Targeted Public Distribution System - Right to Food Campaign

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The Game of

Targeted Public Distribution System in the Life of Tribal Communities

of Madhya Pradesh

A Study

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Sampark Village Raipuriya, Block- Petlavad, District- Jhabua, MP

Sopan Opposite SP Bunglow, Old ITI building, Barapatthar, Seoni, MP

VASPS

Post and Village-Simrol, Distt-Indore, MP

Debate Alkapuri, Bhopal

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Right to Food Campaign Madhya Pradesh Group E7/226, First floor, Arera Colony, Shahpura, Bhopal, MP

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Chapter-1 Introduction and Methodology

1. Introduction Public Distribution System in India was started with a goal of price stabilisation in the grain market. PDS had been ensuring the supply of foodgrain on an affordable price to the people. In 1997 the system of PDS was changed to a new system called Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). The basic objective of TPDS is to provide foodgrains to the poor families on subsidised prices. The TPDS has a hidden objective of income redistribution by providing food cheaper to the poor than to the non-poor. This means that effective and transparent functioning of TPDS is an important tool of poverty eradication through increased calorie intake among the poorer families. The reduction in poverty through increased calorie intake depends on two things, first is the timely availability of subsidised foodgrain through PDS and second is sustained purchasing capacity of poorer household. The second condition can be met if the poorer families have enough cash with them to buy subsidies foodgrains from PDS shop. This also depends on availability of enough opportunity of work to get sufficient cash. The TPDS is critical for landless poor, poor with small and marginal holdings. The nature of poverty and status of rural economy comes in this regard. There had been report of starvation deaths in many parts of the country. The deaths in Orissa, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh have been highlighted in the media reports in last few years. The effective functioning of TPDS is important in States where major proportion of population lives in rural areas and people mainly depend on primary sector of economy for their livelihood. The effectiveness of TPDS is also important in States where agriculture depends on rains and the secondary and tertiary sectors are underdeveloped or in nascent stage. States like Madhya Pradesh fit in the both categories mentioned above. Madhya Pradesh is one among the poorest States of India. More than 37 percent people of the State still live below the poverty line which means that they are unable to get basic minimum requirement of per capita calorie intake. The rural poverty ratio in M.P., is 37.06 percent. Around 74 percent population still lives in the rural areas of the State. The Rural Economy of the State depends on primary sector, which is largely dominated by agriculture. The irrigation facilities are poor and only 27.8% of the total cropped area are irrigated1. The low percentage of irrigated area shows that the agriculture and crops depend on rains. This brings uncertainty to the agriculture and agricultural production. This uncertainty is evident from the change in the productivity of major agricultural products in MP (Table: I – 2). The data in table shows that the average productivity has been inconsistent and fluctuating in last five years. There has been fluctuation in the production of major foodgrains like wheat and paddy.

1 MPHDR, 2003, page 402, employment: 10

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The data presented in table I – 3 shows the fluctuation in overall production of cereals and pulses. The production figures show that the production in the year 2002 – 03 has been less than the previous years. ��@��}��>��}�}��"��}�"��

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The High Level Committee report highlights that, “A salient feature of India’s cereals situation is that most States are deficit. Only five States produced surpluses of rice and wheat over consumption in 1999-2000. The remaining States were deficit by more than a third of consumption.” The reduction in the productivity and production of foodgrains means low availability of foodgrains especially for poor families. The effectiveness of TPDS is more crucial in two areas which are poorer regions and the food deficit areas. An area where the production of foodgrains is not consistent needs effective system to meet the gap of foodgrain demand in the area. These days incidence of stark hunger is uncommon and number of such people has been reduced over the years. According to NSSO the people who did not have two “square meal” in a day reduced from 19 percent in 1983 to 7 percent in 1993. Inadequate consumption or low calorie intake is much more common in India and especially in States like Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Orissa where agricultural production depends on rains and large proportion of rural population work as wage earner, main or marginal. If the TPDS does not work effectively that means low availability of foodgrains to the poor families and that further means increase in the incidence of poverty. It is important to understand that large proportion of population in Madhya Pradesh lives close to the borderline of poverty and decrease in food intake may increase poverty ratio in the States. Thus effective functioning of TPDS is crucial for families below the poverty line.

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2. Need for the study Action Aid India with its partner organisations, work in around 11 districts of the State. Most of these districts have high poverty ratio and have high percentage of tribal population as well. While working in the rural areas of these districts AAI and its partners have always experienced that the poor people from this area face the situation of shortage of foodgrains. It has also been noticed that large number of landless labourers, small and marginal farmers and other rural workers migrate outside the village in search of work. Sometimes they migrate to irrigated areas but in most cases people do migrate to the urban areas in search of work. Migration of people is one among the prominent strategies of people to mange the issue of food security. It has been observed that in most of the cases the nature of migration is of distress migration. People never mentioned the contribution of FPS and TPDS in food security on their own and often one has to ask about the role of FPS in their over all system of food security. This forced us to think about the role and contribution of TPDS in the poorer areas especially in the lives of tribal people. The careful analysis of situation raises one fundamental question that do poor families have been able to get subsidised foodgrains through the system of TPDS? During our informal discussion with villagers we were told that the families need subsidised foodgrain from FPS because it reduces the pressure to migrate outside the village on poor wages. The effective PDS also encourages them to leave parents and children at home while they are going as wage labourer. The effective PDS also helps them to have comparatively more resources for healthcare and other necessary work. Our initial interaction with village community helped us in designing a study to review the functioning of TPDS and FPS in rural Madhya Pradesh. The study aimed at reviewing the TPDS in rural and tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh to understand the current status of access of poor to TPDS. Madhya Pradesh has been the place where comparatively greater attempts were made to manage the pro-poor delivery of services through Panchayat Raj Institutions. The management and control of Fair Price Shops in Madhya Pradesh, has been given to the Panchayat Raj Institutions. The Gram Sabha has power and authority over the functioning of Fair Price Shops as well. Theoretically the functioning of FPS should improve at village level due to the involvement of Gram Sabha and PRIs. The experiences and observation do not support the theoretical assumption and this raised another fundamental issue related with the role of institutions of decentralised governance in overall performance of TPDS. It is important to note that the new system of TPDS started after the introduction of 73rd constitutional amendment hence there has been an additional curiosity about the impact of decentralised governance on the functioning of PDS. Above mentioned issues and observations forced us to think about the functioning of TPDS that whether the system is able to fulfil its primary objective of providing subsidised food to the poorer families or there is inherent weakness within the system that does not allow it to fulfil its basic objective. 3. Objectives of the Study

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The aim of the study was to know and understand the status of food security and status of functioning of Public Distribution system through FPS. Keeping this in mind the study team finalised following objectives for the current study:

− To understand the functioning of Targeted Public Distribution System in the tribal areas of rural Madhya Pradesh

− To understand the system of food management and food security in the rural Madhya Pradesh

− To analyse the role of PDS in securing food security among the tribal community − To analyse the perception of tribal community vis-à-vis targeted public distribution

system

4. Methodology of the Study 4.1.1. Literature Review It was important to review the secondary literature on the topic. In order to do so the team reviewed the government data and publications and it also reviewed various studies and reports available on this topic. The present study is outcome of the participatory process adopted by the study team. The study team designed tools for participatory data collection. 4.1.2 Primary Data The study collected both qualitative and quantitative data during the process of data collection. In order to understand the actual situation the study team collected perception of the cardholders and the shopkeepers. The team also collected views of people involved into the management of the PDS at district and sub-district level. The details of the tools are given below: (i) Questionnaire Two questionnaires were developed for collection of views and perceptions of cardholders and shopkeepers respectively. (ii) Case Study Cases, of individual cardholders and village situation were prepared. These cases are related to the problems faced by the cardholders, problem in opening of FPS, issues pertaining to regular opening of the FPS and availability of food grains on the shop. These cases provide detailed information that helps us in understanding the situation of beneficiaries of different categories (iii) Observation The village specific situation has been documented as observation of field investigators and other members of study team. The observation points were related to day-to-day functioning of FPS, the interaction between shopkeeper and the cardholders, etc. (iv) Focussed group Discussion Focussed group discussions were carried out with different groups of cardholders. These discussions were also carried out with community leaders, women groups and group of marginalized communities. These discussions were organised to understand the

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traditional system of food security and its current status, the experience of different groups with the FPS, etc. (v) Individual Interviews Individual interviews were conducted with Panchayat Representatives, officers of department of Food and Civil Supplies, Chief Executive Officer of Zila and Janpad Panchayat. 4.1.3 Data from Secondary Sources Data from secondary sources provided important information that helped us in designing the study. Further the studies on the functioning of PDS, the analysis of food policy, government documents and other relevant studies helped us in understanding the broader scenario of food supply and food security. The sources of secondary literature are given below: (i) Data from Government institutions (ii) Data from the website of the department of Food and Civil Supply (iii) Census (iv) Data from the website of the Ministry of Civil Supply and Food, Government of

India (v) Literature review (vi) Review of evaluation and studies 4.1.4 Selection of Study Area The study was carried-out in 57 villages of seven blocks of seven districts of the Madhya Pradesh. Details of the study area, are explained in the table I-2. For the purpose of study only those districts were selected where partners of Action Aid India were working. The second criterion, for the selection of districts was related to the presence of tribal population in the field. Within district only those blocks were selected where the partner organisation was working in the field. The selection of villages depended on the selection of Fair Price Shop. It was decided to select 2 FPS. Under each FPS two villages were selected. One village was selected on the basis of closeness to the FPS. The second village was selected on the basis of remoteness

Methods used for collecting information from the study area. Districts Group

discussion Individual Interviews

Time line

Case Study

Dhar 8 10 8 1 Jhabua 10 8 8 9 Mandla 11 6 8 0 Dindori 7 2 8 0 Shivpuri 8 13 8 4 Seoni 8 1 8 3 Khandwa 12 16 8 3 Total 64 56 56 20

Districts Block Panchayats Villages FPS Shivpuri Kolaras 7 8 4 Dhar Dharampuri 5 6 4 Jhabua Petlawad 5 8 4 Khandwa Khalwa 7 9 4 Seoni Kurai 6 8 4 Mandla Bichiya 5 8 4 Dindori Baijag 5 7 4 Total 7 40 54 28 Table I-2

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from the FPS. It was also decided that within the category of remote villages only those villages will be selected that are not connected with the tar or metalled road. 4.1.5 Process Study passed through various processes. The study started with the observation of filed teams that PDS is unable to serve the people and majority of the poor families depend on the market for additional food. It also observed that FPS received their quota regularly but as most of the families or their family members were out of village for at least four to six months, very limited quantity of food grain was purchased. Even then the FPS showed that stock was distributed and this raises doubts about the maintenance as well as the reliability of stock registers. The process of data collection involved different organisations.

(a) Development of instrument During the process of study the team developed many instruments for collection of data from primary as well as secondary sources. These instruments were designed jointly with community members, the field teams and the team of investigators.

(b) Training of field investigators After designing the tools, for the study, two days training for field investigators, was organised to develop a common understanding about the objectives of the study, about the use of tools and about system of PDS. (c) Data Collection

Process of data collection took about 20 days initially. After the data collection the separate teams went to cross check the consistency of data collected from primary sources.

(d) Preparation of Case Studies

Specific case studies were prepared to understand the functioning and difficulties more deeply. The cases were related with the difficulty in getting ration card or getting food grains. (e) Data editing

Once the process of data collection completed then the study team started editing the data to ensure the consistency and to identify the data gaps. With the identification of data gaps the research team visited field and collected additional data from the field. (f) Data Analysis

The data has been analysed using following computer software:

- SPSS 11.5 - Special programme prepared for analysis

(g) Report writing

Report has been prepared by using both quantitative and qualitative data .The analysed data sheets, case studies and data available from secondary sources were used for writing report. The report contains following chapters:

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5. Literature Review The PDS system has been reviewed and studied by academic institutions and academicians, by government organisations and also by organisations working at the grassroots level on the issue of food security. Review of Report of High Level Committee The report highlights that Government of India has build up a huge and almost unmanageable public stock of foodgrains which results into high expenditure on holding these stocks which is more than what Government of India expends on Agriculture, Rural development and on Irrigation and Flood control taken together. The report also highlights that there is fall in consumption that has led to a situation where cereals demand in the country has grown at less than population. The report highlights that the future demand and supply outcomes are uncertain and this requires that India must focus on developing a strategy to maintain self-sufficiency in cereals with adequate production effort. This is important to note that world production and trade is highly distorted by policies of rich countries. The report fears that, “ These countries are subsidising grain production heavily at present, but may push prices up if they acquire monopoly in world trade. In this situation of future uncertainty, and India’s still low calorie intake compared to other countries, continued food self-sufficiency is an indispensable component of national security”. − ensure effective price support in States and areas with future production potential − to adopt measures to supplement MSP policy, e.g. market-based insurance against

price and income fluctuation and a system of negotiable warehouse receipts − procurement at MSP need not always be sufficient to meet requirements of public

distribution. − procurement agencies will need to develop the capacity to procure at market prices,

eschewing devices such as levy procurement of rice which discourage private investment in milling without providing direct price support to farmers.

On the consumer side, too, there can be no complacency about a system to protect consumers from possible domestic shortages which might coincide with high world prices. Cereals account for around 60 per cent of total calorie intake, and it is unlikely that this will fall below 50 per cent by 2020. This, and our prognosis that interstate imbalances between production and consumption will widen in future, means that the second aim of the food security system should be the original objective of the Public Distribution System (PDS), to ensure price stabilisation by responding rapidly to situations of temporary shortage and through assured transfer of grain from surplus to deficit regions.

The Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), adopted in 1997, introduced the objective of income redistribution by providing food cheaper to the poor than to the non-poor. But this may have served to blunt the efficacy of the PDS in meeting its original goal of price stabilisation, while not delivering fully in terms of the new concern to focus subsidies to the poor.

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By excluding a large number of families, the TPDS undermined the viability of Fair Price shops and increased scope for distortion and leakage. It penalised States with relatively low incidence of income poverty but relatively high incidence of calorie deficiency. At the same time, it did not reach the poor in States where the PDS was weak prior to its introduction. We feel that it is essential to go back to an universal PDS, which involves one Central Issue Price for each item that is sought to be procured and distributed.

Welfare/distributive measures are important and were ignored in previous designs of the food security system. However, separate schemes already exist for the poor and other vulnerable groups. Some of these may be linked to grain, and special attention is necessary towards the disabled and the aged who have no regular income support. But delivery of such benefits may be more effective if it is served independently of an income criterion within the PDS. Although the PDS may be adequate to deliver grain in some cases, there may be better delivery systems in other cases.

An important social security measure in the Indian context is provision of employment on public works. While a food component can and should be part of such employment generation in the short run or in periods of local food shortages, in the long run, employment generation should be distinct from the food delivery system. This should not, however, undermine the importance of employment and income generation in eliminating hunger and malnutrition.

In the TPDS, a large subsidy component is additional to the costs of the food security system proper, on account of lower prices for those identified as poor as compared to the non-poor. The redistribution objective would be better met if this additional subsidy component is transferred as cash assistance from Centre to States depending upon levels of poverty and linked to actual food distribution, but allowing States to develop their own food schemes for poverty alleviation while retaining centralised MSP and issue prices.

Bihar and Jharkhand

In a special article in Economic and Political Weekly (August 25-31, 2001) Thomas Mooji has analysed the situation of PDS and food security. In his article Mooji has highlighted the fact that Government of India allocates foodgrain, under PDS, on different basis. He cites the example of Kerala and Bihar where Kerala gets more foodgrains that Bihar whereas the total number of poor in Bihar is much more than Kerala. He relates it to the dynamics of power relationship between Centre and Sates. According to Mooji the people of Bihar and Jharkhand have never benefited from PDS. The politicians of Bihar and Jharkhand are not interested in using food to increase their popularity among the masses and as a result food and PDS does not get the attention necessary to make the PDS efficient. The paper also finds that return to the PDS dealer is between Rs. 400 to Rs. 600 per month which is less than the minimum wages. The system is handled by the corrupt officials and this result into poor delivery of foodgrains at ground level. Article also points out that the process through which BPL cards have been distributed is unsatisfactory. The financial status of State Food and Civil Supplies Corporation is poor and the present distribution pattern suits to the corrupt people. The political economy of the State of Bihar and Jharkhand is largely responsible for this poor situation. Issue of efficiency and Equity of food Market Interventions

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Another Paper by Bharat Ramaswamy looks into the entire issue from the perspective of food market intervention by government. The article notes that food market interventions are beneficial to the producers because they provide them a risk cover. It can also be beneficial for the poor because the food market interventions can increase the calorie intake of the poor. This paper systematically analyses the procurement aspect of food market intervention and comes to a conclusion that food market interventions benefit the producers, they also result into purchase of poor quality foodgrain and the inefficiency of FCI increases the chances further deterioration in the grains procured. The food market interventions also restrict open market purchase of food grains and government becomes the biggest buyer in the market. The consumer behavior also affects the food market interventions. Due to the poor quality foodgrains, dual prices for APL, BPL and other inefficiencies in PDS large number of consumers, including entire APL switched to open market. According to this paper the rice consuming States (southern States like AP, TN and Kerala where PDS is also functioning well) have adapted the new system quickly. The predominantly wheat consuming states like UP, Maharashtra and Rajasthan have been slow in identifying BPL and the functioning of PDS is equally poor in these States. This result in low off take of food grains in these States. The article raises two more issues which are issue of subsidies reaching to the target groups and the second is efficiency in providing subsidies to the poor. Paper quotes studies to say that poor receive meager benefits from PDS. Majority of the poorest households in northern and eastern Indian States does not purchase any food grain from PDS. Geographical coverage of PDS is limited in northern and eastern States for example in Maharashtra 30 percent of poor do not use the PDS due to the lack of access to PDS. The paper concludes this argument by saying that with the exception of few States, the effect of PDS on the well-being of poor is negligible. Paper finally argues that if benefit has to reach the poor then the scale of programme should be expanded to be a major supplier of foodgrain to the poor. Errors of Targeting

Madhura Swaminathan and Neeta Mishra collected data on utilisation of PDS in village Mohkal of Kheda Taluka of district Pune Maharashtra. They have found that the new system focuses on identifying target groups for distribution of subsidized foodgrains. This system of identifying target groups has inherent weakness of inclusion and exclusion errors. This error results into either inclusion of non-poor into the BPL list or it excludes poor from the BPL list.

Conclusion

Most of the studies have found that the allocations of foodgrains to the States are based on the influence of the State over the centre. The studies also found that the effectiveness of implementation of TPDS largely depends on the political economy of the state. Andhra is a clear-cut example of this where the political leadership is putting lot of effort to supply cheap foodgrains to the people. Few more studies have found that southern state are seriously implementing programs related with food while other States have given almost no attention or very low priority to the TPDS and other programmes related with food.

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Studies highlight that there is a need to review the present statues of linking PDS with targets because the errors of targeting are bound to happen and they may defeat the very purpose of TPDS. If TPDS has to continue even then there has to be better strategy to reach poorest target groups. The allocation of foodgrains from the central pool must follow some principles and poor of northern States should not be penalized due to the low political will. Studies also highlight that there is a need to improve the monitoring mechanism trough more public participation.

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Chapter 2 Profiles As mentioned earlier, in the section of methodology, the study was carried out in seven districts of Madhya Pradesh. Six districts, out of these seven districts, are tribal dominated where proportion of tribal population, to the total population, is more than 40 percent. The proportion of population of SC and ST communities to the total population is more than 60 percent in district of Jhabua, Mandla, Dindori and Dhar. Three districts namely Jhabua, Mandla and Dindori are completely declared as fifth schedule districts, which mean that the provisions of fifth Schedule will be applicable in entire geographical area of these districts. Details about the district and villages are explained in the table PR – 2

1. Village Profile

The profile of the villages gives an idea about the people, resources and availability of resources within the study villages. The profile presented here looks into the people, rural institutions, and connectivity of the village and specifically the presence of institutions of PDS. The villages were selected for the purpose to understand the status of access of people to the fair price shops. It was assumed, in the beginning of the study, that the distance of habitation, from the Fair Price Shop affects the access and thus results into the denial for the poor of getting subsidies food.

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9

The data collected from the villages provides us a matrix of facilities available within the village simultaneously it also provides information about the remoteness of villages from basic facilities of health, education and Public Distribution System. Table 1.1 gives a picture of access of villages to 10 basic services. It is clear from the table that out of total 57 study villages, spread in 7 districts of Madhya Pradesh, only 28 percent of them had Fair Price Shop within Village. This means that the residents of the 72 percent villages have to go out for getting the food that is available to them through the system of Public Distribution.

Table2.3 Access of villages to Different Services

S.N

o. Village

Tot

al N

o of

V

illa

ges

Con

nect

ed w

ith

Tar

Roa

d

Sch

ool

PHC

Fair

Pri

ce S

hop

Vil

lage

Mar

ket

Post

Off

ice

Phon

e

Ban

k

Vil

lage

Gro

cery

Sh

op

Ang

anw

adi

1 Shivpuri 8 2 7 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 7 2 Dhar 8 3 7 0 3 0 0 2 0 3 7 3 Jhabua 8 1 8 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 8 4 Khandwa 9 3 9 3 4 2 3 4 1 1 9 5 Mandla 8 1 6 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 5 6 Dindori 8 4 3 1 3 1 1 0 1 1 8 7 Seoni 8 2 4 0 2 0 2 0 0 4 7

Total 57 16 44 4 16 3 7 8 2 9 51

Source: Analysis of Field Data, PDS Study 2004

Similarly, the table shows that only 28 percent, of the total study villages, are connected with tar road. This means 72 percent villages neither have Fair Price Shop nor are they connected with tar roads and these results in poor accessibility of people of these villages during rainy season. The data provides an interesting observation about the status of schools in the rural Madhya Pradesh. According to the data around 80 percent of the villages have primary school facility within the boundary or the geographical area of the village. More than 90 percent of the villages have Aaganwadi Centres. The policy of the state government with the devolution of powers to the Panchayats have played critical role in increasing the numbers of school and Aaganwadi Centres at ground level.

Availability of Services within 5 Kilometres from Village Analysis on the basis of availability of facilities within a distance provides a set of information presented in the table 1.2. According to this table 51 percent villages are within the distance of 5 kilometres from the Fair Price Shop.

10

Table No. 2.4 Facility available in below 5 Km area

S.N

o

Village

Tot

al N

o of

V

illa

ges

Mai

n R

oad

Sch

ool

PHC

PDS

shop

Vil

lage

M

arke

t

Post

Off

ice

Phon

e

Ban

k

Mai

n S

hop

Ang

anw

adi

1. Shivpuri 8 2 1 2 3 2 4 2 2 2 1 2. Dhar 8 5 1 6 5 2 6 4 2 4 1 3. Jhabua 8 4 0 3 2 3 6 6 3 4 0 4. Khandwa 9 5 0 4 3 5 4 4 5 5 0 5. Mandla 8 6 1 0 7 3 5 0 2 3 3 6. Dindori 8 4 5 5 5 5 5 4 4 5 0 7. Seoni 8 2 3 3 4 2 3 3 1 1 1

Total 57 28 11 23 29 22 33 23 19 24 6


Table No. 1.2 shows main road connects 49% villages, 19% Schools, 40% Primary Health centres, 51 % PDS Shops, 38% village markets, 58% Post offices, 40% Telephones, 33% Banks, 42% Main shops and 11% Anganwadi. All these are available in 5 km areas of the villages covered in the study area of the Districts.

Distance of FPS as per the Perception of Cardholders

In this section we will categorise the cardholders on the basis of distance of FPS from their habitation. 13 cardholders have not responded on this issue question. Among the 1957 cardholders 32.4 percent cardholders say that the FP Shop is situated in their own village. 36.1 percent cardholders say that they have to travel around 1-3 kilometres to reach FPS. 23.1 percent cardholders informed that the distance of FPS from their habitation is around 3-6 kilometres. Around 7.4 percent of the total cardholders travel more than 6 kilometres to reach FPS. In Shivpuri and Mandla very limited numbers of cardholders have informed that the FPS is situated within the village, which is 12.5 percent in both the cases. Around 37.5 percent cardholders, of Shivpuri travel more than 6 kilometres to reach the FPS and in Mandla 12.5 percent cardholder said that they have to travel more than 6

Table 2.5 Distance of ration shop from your village District

In T

he

Vil

lage

It

self

1-

3 K

ms.

A

way

Fro

m

The

Vil

lage

3 - 6

Km

s.

Aw

ay F

rom

T

he V

illa

ge

6 - 9

Km

s.

From

The

V

illa

ge

Oth

er

No

Res

pons

e

Tot

al

105 137 37 0 0 1 280 Dhar 37.5 48.9 13.2 0 0 0.4 100

80 140 47 0 0 2 269 Dindori 29.7 52.0 17.5 0 0 0.7 100

63 138 88 1 0 4 294 Jhabua 21.4 46.9 29.9 0.3 0 1.4 100

212 51 20 3 0 4 290 Khandwa 73.1 17.6 6.9 1.0 0 1.4 100

35 100 106 35 2 1 279 Mandla 12.5 35.8 38.0 12.5 0.7 0.4 100

108 99 70 1 0 0 278 Seoni 38.8 35.6 25.2 0.4 0.0 0.0 100

35 51 88 105 0 1 280 Shivpuri 12.5 18.2 31.4 37.5 0.0 0.4 100

638 716 456 145 2 13 1970 Total 32.4 36.3 23.1 7.4 0.1 0.7 100


11

kilometres to reach FPS. The situation is better in Khandwa where 73 percent of the total cardholders informed that the FPS shop is situated in their own village. The issue of distance of FPS is important to understand. If the FPS shop is far from village then the access of poor to the shop not only becomes difficult but it also includes some opportunity cost. The cardholder has to choose between wage and food grain. This would be more clear when we will be cross analysing the perceptions in the chapter of perception. 2. Profile of Respondents

Category of Cardholders In the beginning it was decided to interview the cardholders from all the three categories namely the Antyodaya, BPL and APL families. The analyses of the data about beneficiaries or the cardholders informs that out of total 1964 cardholders around 29.3 percent cardholders were from the Antyodaya category, which is the poorest among the poor category. Largest number of the interviewed cardholders is from the category of BPL families which is around 57 percent. Only 13.7 percent respondents were among the families Above Poverty Line Category. Shivpuri has almost equal number of cardholders as respondent in each category, which is almost one-third in each category. Shivpuri has interviewed highest percentage of Antyodaya and APL cardholders than any other study districts. Jhabua has highest number of BPL cardholders as respondent of the study, which is around 72 percent

Sex of the respondents Majority of the respondents are male. Out of 1964 respondents 1704 are male and only 244 respondents are female. Seoni and Shivpuri have highest percentage of female respondents, which is 21.6 and 21.4 percent respectively. Mandla and Khandwa have lowest percentage of female respondents, which is 6.8 and 7 percent respectively. Overall, there are around 12.4 percent female respondents and 87.6 percent are male respondents. Percentages of male respondents are more than 90 percent in Jhabua, Dhar, Khandwa and Mandla.

Table 2.6 Category of cardholders District Antyodaya

Card Holders BPL Card Holders

APL Card Holders

Total

Shivpuri 93 (33.5%) 96 (34.5%) 89 (32%) 278

Jhabua 80 (27.2%) 213 (72.4%) 1 (0.3%) 294

Dhar 80 (28.6%) 160 (57.1%) 40 (14.3%) 280

Khandwa 79 (27.6%) 165 (57.7%) 42 (14.7%) 286

Seoni 78 (28.1%) 161 (57.9%) 39 (14%) 278

Mandla 99 (35.5%) 164 (58.8%) 16 (5.7%) 279

Dindori 66 (24.5%) 161 (59.9%) 42 (15.6%) 269

Total 575 (29.3%) 1120 (57%) 269 (13.7%) 1964 ú�ûgü�ý�þ�ÿ�� dû�� ÿ�� òú7ú��yü��

Table 2.7 Distribution of respondents according to their Sex !#" $�%'&(" )�% *�+-,/.102+ 34.50 +

Shivpuri 60 (21.4%) 220(78.6%)

Jhabua 28(9.5%) 249(90.5%)

Dhar 24(8.6%) 256(91.4%)

Khandwa 20(7%) 267(93%)

Seoni 60(21.6%) 218(78.4%)

Mandla 19(6.8%) 260(93.2%)

Dindori 33(12.4%) 234(87.6%)

Total 244(12.4%) 1704(87.6%) Source: Analysis of Field Data, PDS Study 2004

12

Age of the Respondents The respondents were head of the households and more than 50 percent of the total respondents are young and their age is either 40 or below 40. Majority of the respondents are in the age group of 31-40 years. The second largest category of respondents is in the range of 41-50 years. Around 17 percent respondents are in the age group of 21-30 years.

The profile of the district and area makes it clear that entire tribal dominated area of Madhya Pradesh has been selected for this study. It is also emerging that at least four major tribes namely Bhil, Bhilala, Gond, Koraku have been covered in the study. Apart from these major tribes two primitive tribes have also been included in the study and these are Saharia and Baiga. 1970 respondents from 54 villages of 40 Panchayats of 7 districts have been covered and in order to understand the issues deeply village and family cases have also been added. Majority of the respondents are above thirty (around 63 percent) and 87 percent of them are male. From the data it is cleat that issues pertaining to women vis-à-vis find very little space in this study. This is due to the family structure of tribal and other communities living in the study area. Some cases have been prepared by discussing issues with household women and hopefully they would add the perception of women on PDS.

Table 2.8 Age of Respondents District Up to

20yrs 21-30yrs 31-40yrs 41-50yrs Above

50yrs Dhar 2 (0.7) 54 (19.3) 101 (36.1) 74 (26.4) 49 (17.5) Dindori 2 (0.7) 42 (15.7) 112 (41.8) 63 (23.5) 49 (18.3) Jhabua 0 17 (5.8) 111 (37.8) 83 (28.2) 83 (28.2) Khandwa 0 51 (17.6) 107 (36.9) 76 (26.2) 56 (19.3) Mandla 0 60 (21.5) 120 (43) 64 (22.9) 35 (12.5) Seoni 1 36 (13) 91 (32.9) 70 (25.3) 79 (28.5) Shivpuri 4 (1.4) 78 (28.1) 108 (38.8) 60 (21.6) 28 (10.1) Grand Total 9 (0.5) 338

(17.2) 750 (38) 490 (24.9) 379 (19.3)


Chapter – 03 District Profile After the reorganisation of State on 1st November 2000 Madhya Pradesh has 313 development blocks spread over in 48 revenue Districts. Apart from this administrative division of the State Madhya Pradesh also has five cultural regions. These are Malwa – Nimar, Bundelkhand, Gwalior–Chambal, Vindhya and Mahakaushal cultural region. The cultural regions broadly define the cultural identity as well as the nature of rural economy. Large parts of Malwa – Nimar, Mahakaushal and Vindhya regions are actually the homeland of Scheduled Tribes or the Adivasis. Gond is the most predominant tribe in Mahakaushal region whereas Bhil and Bhilala dominate the Malwa – Nimar region. The Vindhya Region displays a mixed proportion of Scheduled Tribes such as Panika, Kol, Baiga and Gonds. Sahariya a primitive tribe lives in the Gwalior – Chambal region Sahariyas used to depend on the NTFP for their livelihood needs. Due to the deforestation of the area Sahariya community has now become a wage labourer. Sahariya community used to extract gond (gum) and Khair (Kaththa is extracted from Khair tree) and were main supplier of these two items to the local markets. Five districts namely Mandla, Dindori, Jhabua, Badwani and Anooppur completely fall under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution of India and 14 other Districts are partially covered by the Fifth Schedule. 13 out of 14 Districts are spread over in above-mentioned three cultural regions. Sheopur Kalan is the only District, which is partially covered by the Fifth Scheduled Area and fall in Gwalior – Chambal region. Bundelkhand region has very limited presence of Scheduled tribes. The Bundelkhand and the Gwalior – Chambal regions are the most backward areas of the state. Feudal landlords dominate both the regions. The status of natural resources, specially the forest, is poor in both the regions. Large scales of labourers migrate in search of wage employment in nearby towns and also in neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh. The selected four districts for the study fall in following regions:

− District Dindori, Seoni and Mandla are situated in Mahakaushal Region − District Khandwa, Dhar and Jhabua are situated in Malwa – Nimar Region − Districts Shivpuri is situated in Gwalior – Chambal region

Four Districts namely Seoni, Shivpuri, Dhar and Khandwa, out of seven, are feudal in nature. Dindori, Mandla and Jhabua are completely covered by the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution. Scheduled Tribe dominate the District, as their share in the total population of the District is 64.48 percent. This chapter details the situation at district and Villages selected under the study. 1. DHAR 1.1. History Historically and culturally, Dhar district has occupied an important place through its epoch-ancient, mediaeval and modern. Dhar, known as Dhar Nagari in ancient period and Piran Dhar in mediaeval period, has had the privilege of being of the capital city, both in the ancient and in the early mediaeval periods. The Paramars ruled over a vast territory around Malwa for 400 years from the 9th to the 13th centuries. 1.2. Location The district extends over three physiographic divisions. They are the Malwa in the north, the Vindhyachal range in central zone and the Narmada valley along the southern boundary. However, the valley is again closed up by the hills in the southwestern part. Dhar is 65 Km from Indore, the holy river Narmada passes through the District. It is situated at a height of 588 meter above sea level.

1.3. Demography Dhar is predominantly a tribal district where 54.5 percent people belong to Scheduled Tribe. Bhils and Bhilalas are main tribes of the district. The total population of the Dhar is 1740329 persons as per census of 2001. A total of 6.5% people, of total population of the district, belong to Scheduled Caste. District Dhar is predominantly a rural district where more than 83 percent people, of the total population of the district live in rural areas. Literacy rate of Dhar district is only 34.54%. Sex ratio of the district is 955. Sex ratio in rural Dhar is better than urban areas. Sex ratio amongst the Scheduled tribe is 981 per 1000 male which is better than the normal sex ratio. 1.4. Administrative information: District Dhar covers a total area of 8159 Sq. Km. The district is divided into 13 development blocks and 7 revenue tehsils. 12 Blocks of the district are Tribal development blocks and only one block is community development block. All blocks of Sardarpur, Dhar, Kukshi, Manawar, Gandwani and Dharampuri Tehsils are covered by the 5th Scheduled of the Constitution of India. There are total 1571 villages in 669 Gram Panchayats of the district out of which 1557 villages are termed as revenue villages and 14 villages are forest village. 1.5. Food, Land use and Agriculture Dhar is one among the better districts of Madhya Pradesh as far as agriculture and agricultural production is concerned. Per capita foodgrain production is more than 300 kilograms. This simply means that per capita monthly foodgrain availability should be more than 25 kilograms per month which is actually high. Similarly the monthly per capita availability of pulses should be more than 2.5 kilograms. Per capita oil seed production shows that production of Oilseed is very high compared to the other study districts. Data on land utilisation pattern shows that Dhar is among the advanced district. Net sown area to the total geographical area is 61.7 percent which is high compared to the other study districts. There are 28 FPS on 1 lakh population and on this basis Dhar is placed fourth among the seven study districts. 2. JHABUA �� +LVWRULFDO�7KH�GLVWULFW�RI�-KDEXD�LV�VLWXDWHG�LQ�WKH�H[WUHPH�ZHVWHUQ�SDUW�RI�0DGK\D�3UDGHVK��7KH�GLVWULFW�FDPH�LQ�WR�H[LVWHQFH�ZLWK�WKH�IRUPDWLRQ�RI�0DGK\D�%KDUDW�LQ��ZLWK�WKH�PHUJHU�RI�-KDEXD��$OLUDMSXU��-REDW��.DLWKZDGD�� 0DWKZDGD��3HWODZDG�SDUJDQD�RI�+RONDU�VWDWH�DQG�RQH�YLOODJH�RI�WKH�'KDU�VWDWH��

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Historically, the district was part of Rathore state of Jodhpur in Rajputanas. With the advent of Marathas the area experienced internal disturbances. The area was placed under the management of the Holkars of Indore. 2.2. Location

The district is located on the spurs of the Vindhayas along the western boundary of the plateau. The district touches the borders of the state of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. The terrain is largely hilly with the general drainage pattern of the district being towards west and northwest. The three main rivers that flow through the district are Narmada, Mahi and Anas. The topography of the district consists of pediplains with undulating surface and with residual features that largely comprise of lateritic boulders or blackish-grey clay. Devoid of vegetative cover and subject to agriculture operations, the undulating land in the district is under stress of severe soil erosion that has made gully formation a predominant feature in the district. 2.3. Demography According to Census 2001 the total population of the Dhar is 1394561. The majority of the population in Jhabua District belongs to the Scheduled Tribes. The main tribes in the District are Bhils and Bhilalas. 92.2% Scheduled tribes live in rural areas of Jhabua and overall 86.8% population of Jhabua District are belongs to Scheduled tribes and 6.5% population belongs to Scheduled caste. Literacy rate of Jhabua district is only 28.26%. Sex ratio of the district is 986 and Jhabua is placed third amongst the study district on the basis of sex ratio. Sex ratio amongst the Scheduled tribe is 993 which is higher than the normal sex ratio for the district. 2.4. Administrative information Jhabua covers a total area of 6782 Sq. Km. there are 12 blocks and 08 tehsils in the district. Entire Jhabua district is declared as area under the 5th Scheduled of the constitutions. All 12 blocks of the district are tribal development block. There are 1313 villages in 612 Gram Panchayats. District has no forest village. There are 8 towns in the district Jhabua. 2.5. Food, Land use and Agriculture: Yearly Per capita foodgrain production is 268.22 kilograms which means on an average monthly per capita foodgrain production is 22.35 kilograms. This monthly per capita production is less than Dhar. Monthly Per capita production of pulses is 4.48 kilograms which almost double to what Dhar produces. Oilseed production is very less which shows than what Dhar produces. Net sown area to the total geographical area is 53.6 percent which is less than Dhar. Irrigated area is also very low that shows that if proper investment is made

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to improve the coverage of irrigation than the foodgrain production shall increase. Average landholding size, in Jhabua is 2.23 hectare. In Jhabua 21 FPS cater the need of every one lakh people. The number of FPS per one lakh population is lowest in Jhabua amongst the study districts. 3. KHANDWA 3.1. Historical Nimar was a State that was divided into the eastern and western parts. This division took place because the western part of the province was captured by the Holkers of Indore State. Prior to the reorganization of the States, i.e., on 1st November 1956, the eastern part formed part of Mahakoshal region of the erst-while Madhya Pradesh. The western part of old province Nimar, originally held by the Holkars, became a part of Madhya Bharat, when that state was formed in the year 1948. As on the reorganization of States, Madhya Bharat region was merged in Madhya Pradesh and as a result of this western part of Nimar or the old Prant Nimar eventually became a part of Madhya Pradesh. This tract with its headquarters at Khargone, also happened to retain its old name of Nimar, and being to the west of the District of former Nimar of Mahakoshal region, was named as Nimar(West) or West Nimar, while the eastern part of the Nimar was officially renamed as Nimar (East) or East Nimar from 1st November, 1956. Officially and un-officially the district was also called as Khandwa. On August, 15, 2003 the District Khandwa was divided into Khandwa & Burhanpur districts. The new district has three tehsils namely Harsud, Khandwa and Pandhana. 3.2. Location Khandwa District is situated south West of the state of Madhya Pradesh. At present the District is in the Indore Division of Madhya Pradesh. Maximum and minimum height above mean sea level is 905.56 m and 180.00 m respectively. The District is bounded on the east by the Betul and Hoshangabad District of Hoshangabad division and Burhanpur District of Indore Division on south, on the west by West Nimar District of Indore division and on the north by Dewas District of the Indore Division. 3.3. Demography Although 79.9 percent people live in rural areas still the district has highest percentage of urban population amongst the study district. Around 20 percent people, of the total population of district, lives in the urban areas of the district. Scheduled tribe and Scheduled caste community constitute more than 44 percent of the total population of the district. Share of tribal population to the total population is 31.2 percent and the share of the Scheduled caste population is 12.4 percent. The sex ratio is 936 which show that there is a need to focus on the issue of gender balance in the district. Sex ratio amongst the Scheduled tribe is 1016 which much higher than the overall sex ratio of the district. This data also shows that sex ratio amongst the non-tribal groups is an issue of concern.

3.4. Administrative Division

The District for the purpose of general and revenue administration has been divided into three sub-divisions viz., Khandwa,Pandhana,Harsud. and three tehsils, viz., Khandwa, Pandhana and Harsud. The tehsils have been further sub-divided into revenue inspector's circles and and

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patwari circles for revenue administration. The Sub-divisional & Tehsil HQ of Harsud Sub-Divisio and Tehsil has been shifted to New-Harsud (Chhanera) Due to displacement under Indira Sagar Project. 3.5. Food, Land use and Agriculture: Data on land use for agricultural purposes shows that status of agriculture is not very encouraging. The net sown area to the total geographical area of the district is less than 40 percent. Gross cropped are is less than 50 percent and the net irrigated area to net sown area is below 35 percent. This does not present a very encouraging image of district as far as agricultural production is concerned. The poor status of agriculture has it’s impact on the status of food security which is again reflected through per capita production of foodgrains which is 171.45 kilogram per year and the monthly per capita production of foodgrains is 14.3 kilograms which less than other study districts. There are 27 FPS on one lakh population in the district. Average size of the land holding is 3.19 hectares. 4. DINDORI 4.1. History

Dindori was carved out of District Mandla in 1998. District was part of the famous Gond Kingdom that ruled over the area. Dindori is homeland of primitive tribe Baiga. The famous Baiga Chak is in the Dindori district. According to the district Gazetteer of District Jabalpur the entire area was rich in wealth and the people were very good farmers. They knew about watershed management and constructed many structure for water harvesting. The area lost it’s dignity and glory after the Mugal and Maratha invasions.

4.2. Location

Dindori is 144 Km from Jabalpur on S.H 21, 104 Km from Mandla and 88 Km from holy place Amarkantak. The holy river Narmada passes through the District. It is situated at a height of 1100 meter above sea level amongst herbal-rich, Maikal mountain ranges. Dindori District is situated at the eastern part of Madhya Pradesh touching Chhattisgarh state. The District Sahdol and Umariya in north, Balaghat surround Dindori in south, Mandla in western part and the eastern part of the District borders with the Bilaspur District of the newly formed state of Chhattisgarh. Dindori was created out of Mandla district on 25th May 1998 with total 927 villages and 7 development blocks namely Dindori, Shahpura, Mehandwani, Amarpur, Bajag, and Karanjiya & Samnapur. 4.3. Demography Dindori District comes under the fifth schedule area of the constitution. 64.48 percent of the total population of the District is from Scheduled tribe community. The Baiga is the most primitive tribe of the state and their total share in the tribal population is around 7.5 percent. The Gond tribe constitute around 90 percent of the total tribal population of the District. Other tribes are Kol, Pardhan, Pardhi, Saronti, Bharia, Bhumia and Bhaina. Very limited population of Binjhwar, Halba, Halbi, Kanwar, Kharia and Korwa is also present in the District. The Baigas are known as the "National Human". More than 95 percent population, of the

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district lives in the villages and only 4.6 percent population lives in small towns. Over all sex ratio, in Dindori, is 991 female per 1000 male. Sex ratio of rural Dindori is slightly better whci is 993 female per thousand male. Sex Ratio amongst the Scheduled tribe community is 1011 female per thousand male. Sex ratio among the urban ST community is 1055 which higher than the rural sex ratio of the ST community 4.4. Administrative information Dindori District covers a total area of 7420 Sq. Km. there are 07 Development blocks and 02 Tehsils in the district. Entire Dindori district is covered in the Vth Scheduled of the constitutions. There is no tribal block and 889 villages in 398 Gram Panchayats and 130 villages are forest village. 4.5. Food, Land use and Agriculture: Situation of agriculture and foodgrain production, in Dindori, is better than district Khandwa. Yearly per capita foodgrain production is more than 312 kilograms and monthly per capita foodgrain production is 26.1 kilograms which is more than district Dhar. Per capita production of pulses is 77.1 kilograms and monthly per capita pulse production is 6.4 kilograms which is highest among the study districts. Net sown area to the total geographical area is 44 percent and gross cropped area is 56 percent. Average size of the land holding, in Dindori, is 2.27 hectare. It is important to note that people use local millets for self consumption. Rice is more preferred than wheat. 5. MANDLA 5.1. History Mandla is a tribal district of Madhya Pradesh. The district Mandla is situated in the east-central part of Madhya Pradesh. The district lies almost entirely in the catchments of river Narmada & its tributaries. A district with a glorious history, Mandla comprises of numerous rivers and endowed with rich forests. The world's famous Tiger Sanctuary, Kanha National Park located in the district, is one of the hottest targets for both the domestic as well as foreign tourists. The extreme length of the district is about 133 Kms. from north to south and extreme breadth is 182 Kms from east to west. With the promulgation of Madhya Pradesh reorganisation of the district act, from 21st May 1998, Mandla district has been bifurcated into Mandla and Dindori District. The complete Dindori and Shahpura tahsils and mahandwani development Block formed Dindori District while the rest of the area existed in Mandla District. 5.2. Location: Mandla district is located in the east-central part of the Madhya Pradesh. It is a eastern part of the Jabalpur district. The district forms a part of Satpura hills, which separates the cotton growing of the south from the wheat growing extension of the Malwa Plateau on the north, and is the watershed of three district river systems. It lies between the latitude 220 2' and 230 22' north and longitude 800 18' and 810 50' east. The tropic of cancer thus passes through the north of the district. The total area of the district is 13,269

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Sq. Km. Thus before bifurcation it was the 6th largest district in the state. Its extreme length is about 133 km. from north to south and extreme breadth 182 Km. from east to west. 5.3. Demography The total population of the district was 894236 persons as per census of 2001. The majority of the population in Mandla District belongs to the Scheduled Tribes. The main tribes in the District are Baiga and Kotku. 57.2% population of Mandla District are belongs to Scheduled tribes and 4.6% population belongs to Scheduled caste. Literacy rate of Mandla district is 59.6 percent. Sex ratio of the district is 996 where as sex ratio in rural area of the district is 1002. The Sex ratio among the Scheduled tribe is 1028 female per thousand male. 5.4. Administrative information Mandla covers a total area of 8771 Sq. kilometres. There are 9 blocks 4 Tehsils and 1214 villages in the district. Mandla district is surrounded by holy river Narmada. Entire Mandla district is declared as area under the 5th scheduled of the constitution. 5.5. Food, Land use and Agriculture Yearly per capita foodgrain production, in Mandla, is 174.64 kilograms and in terms of monthly production it is 14.6 kilograms per capita. This production data shows that production is less compared to many other study districts. The monthly per capita production of pulses is 1.6 kilograms which very low compared to other study districts. Per capita oilseed production is 16.6 kilograms per year which is also very less compared to other study district. Data on cultivation and irrigation provide an image that shows the poor status of agriculture in the district. Net sown area to the total geographical area is just 21.7 percent. Gross cropped area is just 28.7 percent and the net irrigated area to net sown area is 6.9 percent. 87 percent of the total cropped area is used for foodgrains production. 6. SEONI 6.1. History Seoni is primarily a tribal dominated district formed on 1st November 1956. The district name Seoni has the origin from the word "SEONA" (or gudina arborea), a species of tree belonging to the verbanaleal family which was commonly found in this area. The wood of this tree is used in manufacture of "DHOLAK". The district is situated on a narrow, North-South section of Satpura Plateau in the South of Jabalpur Division. The District lies between latitude 21 36' & 22 57' North and longitude 79 19' & 80 17' East 6.2. Location The district is situated on a narrow, North-South section of satpura plateau in the South of Jabalpur Division. The District lies between latitude 21 36' & 22 57' North and longitude 79 19' & 80 17' East

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6.3. Demography More than eleven lakh people live in Seoni out of which 89.65 percent people live in rural areas of the district. Share of Scheduled tribe, in to the total population is 36.8 percent and the share of Scheduled caste is 10.3 percent. Scheduled tribe and Scheduled caste together constitute more than fifty percent of total rural population. Level of literacy, in Seoni is good and around 65.6 percent people, of total population, are literate. Rural literacy is 63.2 percent and percentage of literate people in urban Seoni is 85.8 percent. Overall sex ratio in Seoni is 981 female per thousand male. The sex ratio among the Scheduled tribe is 1016 female per thousand male. 6.4. Administrative information Seoni is divided into 4 revenue sub divisions namely Seoni, Lakhnadon, Keolari & Ghansore and 6 Tahsils. Lakhnadon, Ghansore and Kurai Tehsils/ tribal blocks are declared as area under the 5th schedule of the Constitution of India. Panchayat in 5th Schedule Area have special powers and autonomy to exercise control over planning process and budget of the department. The Panchayats have also power of control over government institutions and employees working in these institutions. There are 1585 villages in the district and 36 villages are forest villages. Five blocks, out of total 8 blocks, are tribal development blocks and rest three blocks are community development blocks. There are 4 towns in the district. 6.5. Food, Land use and Agriculture Agriculture is main occupation of local populace. Paddy, Maize, wheat and local millets like Sanwa, Kutaki and Kondo are some main crops of the district. Farmers produce pulses and Arhar is prominent pulse crop. Production of foodgrain is not as high as it is in district Dhar. The per capita yearly production of foodgrains is 236.3 kilograms which becomes 19.7 kilogram per person per month. The per capita production of pulses is 114.3 kilogram per year. The monthly per capita pulse production is 9.5 kilograms which is better than many other study districts. 7. SHIVPURI 7.1. History The district derives its name from God "Shiva". It was known earlier by the name ‘Sipri’. The Shivpuri place first found a mention during Mughal times in 1564 when Emperor Akbar is stated to have halted at this place. During that period it formed a part of Narwar Sarkar. Narwar or Narbar is a tahsil with a population of 6745 persons as per 1991 census, located at a distance of 43 kilometers from Shivpuri, the district head quarters. It has a very big ancient fort and a wealth of history behind. The district was known as Narwar district during the times of Gwalior State, although its Headquarter was at Shivpuri. Shivpuri remained with the Kachhawaha Rajputs upto 1804 when it was taken over by Scindia’s. It was captured by the English in 1817 but returned to Scindia’s next year and it continued to be a part of Gwalior state since then. In 1859 it is said that the great Indian leader Tatya Tope was hanged near the present Collectorate. Maharaja Madhav Rao Scindia paid much attention towards the development of Shivpuri. He constructed a big palace and also developed the city. It was the summer capital of Gwalior State and government offices

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were shifted here in summer months. Shivpuri was constituted as a district in erstwhile Madhya Bharat and continues as such with practically no change since 1951. 7.2. Location: The district is bounded on the North by Morena, Gwalior and Datia districts, on the East by Jhansi district of U.P, on the West by Kota district of Rajasthan and on the South by Guna district of Madhya Pradesh. The district headquarter Shivpuri is located on NH-3 (Agra-Bombay National Highway) at a 113 Km from Gwalior and 98 Km from Guna. The district is mostly laid out over small hill tops covered with deciduous forests where the slope is gentle with verdant vegetation and good forests round about, the landscape is generally pleasing.�There are for main rivers namely The Parwati, The Sindh, The Kuno and The Betwa, which pass through the district. The Parwati is a tributary of Sindh River and joins it near Pawaya in Gwalior district 7.3. Demography

More than 14 lakh people reside in district Shivpuri. 83.4 percent people, of total population of the district live in rural areas. Amongst the study district the share of ST population, to the total population is lowest in Shivpuri and at the same time the share of SC population, amongst the study districts is highest. More than 18 percent population of the district belongs to the Scheduled caste community. Over all literacy rate, of the district is 58.9 percent with rural literacy at 55.4 percent and urban at 75.2 percent. Proportion of women to the male population is worst in Shivpuri amongst the study districts. Sex ratio of the district is 858 female per 1000 male. Sex ratio for ST community is much better at 945 female per 1000 male. 7.4. Administrative information Geographical area of the district Shivpuri is spread over in 10298 square kilometres. District is divided in to 7 tehsils. There are total 8 blocks in the district. Number of villages are 1459 and total number of habitations are 2062. There are 15 forest villages in the districts. District also has 7 towns and no part of the district has area under the 5th Schedule of the constitution.

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7.5. Food, Land use and Agriculture Status of foodgrain production is better compared to other study districts. District is ranked third, amongst the study district and per capita foodgrain production is 294.38 kilograms. The monthly per capita production is 24.5 kilogram. Production of pulses is very poor in the district and district is ranked 7th in terms production of pulses. Monthly per capita pulse production is 0.8 kilogram. Net sown area, to the total geographical area is 40.6 percent and gross cropped area is 52.3 percent. Net irrigated area is 40.3 percent of the net sown area. Average size of the land holding is 2.63 hectares. In terms of productivity of foodgrains Shivpuri is ranked second after Dhar with 1326 kilograms per hectare. 8. Migration of people Migration is a very common feature in all the districts. Certain section of village population like landless labourers, small and marginal farmers migrate to the some better agricultural places (like people of Dhar and Jhabua migrate to better places of Malwa like Indore and Ujjain) Majority of the people migrate as agricultural labourer. This migration helps them in bringing foodgrain to home which helps them in ensuring food security during the months of food scarcity. Small section of population also migrates to urban centre in search of work in construction sector, in service sector like hotels, transport and household works. 9. Ranking of the districts on the basis of Foodgrain Production We have ranked districts on the basis if foodgrains production and the ranking suggest that Dindori produces highest per capita foodgrains per month. Dhar follows Dindori with 25.3 kilograms per person per month. Khandwa is ranked 7 with 14.3 kilograms per person per month. Five districts produce more than 20 kilograms per person per month and three districts namely Seoni, Khandwa and Mandla produce less than 20 kilograms per person per month. Seoni is ranked one in terms of per capita production of pulses which produces 9.5 kilograms per person per month. Shivpuri is ranked 7th which produces less than 1 kilograms per person per month. From the data it appears that Dhar and Dindori are better placed as far as production of foodgrains and pulses are concerned.

FPS on per One Lakh population

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Monthly Per Capita production of Foodgrains and Pulses in Study District District Foodgrain Rank Pulses Rank Seoni 19.7 5 9.5 1 Shivpuri 24.5 3 0.8 7 Dhar 25.3 2 2.7 4 Jhabua 22.4 4 4.5 3 Khandwa 14.3 7 2.3 5 Dindori 26.1 1 6.4 2 Mandla 14.6 6 1.5 6 ó+¶+ô�Í ³�õ�öG² ÷ Æ6Æ

District FPS on per One lakh population

Rank

Mandla 39 1 Seoni 32 2 Dindori 31 3 Dhar 28 4 Khandwa 27 5 Shivpuri 22 6 Jhabua 21 7 ó+¶+ô"Í ³�õ�öG² ÷ Æ6É

Chapter – 4 Public Distribution System Article 47, of Constitution of Indian states that, ‘State shall regard raising the level of nutrition and standard of living of its people and improvement in public health among its primary duties”. Thus constitution clearly indicates that it is the fundamental responsibility of the state to ensure the food security of its people and further is shall take necessary steps to improve the level of nutrition. In last five decades the State has taken following initiatives to ensure the food security:

� Increasing food production – building buffer stocks � Improving food distribution – building up the Public Distribution System; � Improving household food security through –

� Improving purchasing power � food for work programme � direct or indirect food subsidy

The tenth Plan Document admits that there is overflowing stock of foodgrains in the country and at the same time there are reports of starvation deaths in country. This means that the distribution of foodgrains is not managed properly and the areas of food shortage are still unable to receive support from the governments overflowing stocks. The plan document admits that remote and inaccessible areas need special attention and more innovative schemes need to be implemented in these areas. Government of India considers the Public Distribution System (PDS) as a major instrument of the Government’s economic policy for ensuring availability of foodgrains to the public at affordable prices as well as for ensuring the food security for the poor. According to the Government of India the Public Distribution System (PDS) is an important constituent of the strategy for poverty eradication. Keeping this in mind the government intend to use it as a safety net for the poor. AS per the government records the number of poor is more than 330 million and this population is nutritionally at risk. Public Distribution System (PDS), with a network of more than 4.75 lakh Fair Price Shops (FPS), is considered the largest distribution network its type in the world. The situation of overflowing foodgrain stocks and starvation are happening together. This indicates that the system, of PDS is not functioning effectively. This demands an analysis of the situation. We have tried to analyse the situation of allotment of stock to the states and the status of off take in 6-major State of the country. ��Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) Government of India initiated the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in June 1997. The focus of new system was to provide subsidised foodgrains to the poor. Government reports admit that PDS has been widely criticized for its failure to serve the population Below the Poverty Line (BPL), its urban bias, limited coverage in the States with high concentration of the rural poor and lack of transparent and accountable arrangements for delivery. It is expected from the States that they will formulate and implement a foolproof system of PDS for the purpose of fulfilling two broad objectives, which are:

� identification of the poor for delivery of foodgrains � distribution of foodgrains in a transparent and accountable manner at the FPS level.

The TPDS provides foodgrains to the States for three categories namely AAY, BPL and APL.

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Antyodaya Anna Yojana Based on the survey results of NSSO the government of India decided to make arrangements to provide subsidised foodgrains to 5 percent people of the total population. This 5 percent has been identified as hungry, by NSSO survey, because the survey pointed that this section sleeps without two square meals a day. The scheme of providing subsidised foodgrains to hungry people is called Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). Government of India considers this as a step in the direction of making the TPDS aim at reducing hunger among the poorest segments of population and to make PDS benefits more substantial in terms of both quantity and nutrition, for this section of the population. ÿ�� ÿ��

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The Status of Antyodaya Cards The table below explains the status of identification of AAY household in the selected States. The data explains two things; one is the total number of poorest household in a State and second is the efficiency of State in providing cards and facilities to the families identified. �l>��> �)��E:�J� }:~�� :��Y��:�

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The above-mentioned table explains that among the selected States the number of poorest families are higher in UP and Bihar. Madhya Pradesh with 12.525 lakh families is at third place followed by Andhra Pradesh (12.336 lakh families). Andhra and UP have given ration card to all the families identified as AAY but Madhya Pradesh has been able to provide ration card to only 75 percent of the total families identified as AAY families. Bihar and Orissa have distributed cards only to 50 percent of the families identified as AAY families. Families below Poverty Line Under the scheme of TPDS each family below poverty line (BPL) was given 10 kg of foodgrains per month at specially subsidised prices. Transitory allocation of foodgrains for families above poverty line (APL) was also made to the States/UTs equal to the difference between past 10 years annual average lifting and the requirement of foodgrains for BPL families at APL rates. The quantum of allocation of foodgrains for BPL was increased to 20 kg per BPL family per month from April 1, 2000 and to 25 kg per BPL family per month w.e.f. July 1, 2001 while keeping the APL allocation unchanged. The allocation of foodgrains was further increased to 35 kilogram per month from April 2002 for BPL, APL and Antyodaya families. From December 2000 the allocation of foodgrains for BPL families has been fixed on the basis of population projections of the Registrar General of India as on March 1, 2000 instead of earlier base of the projected population in 19952. Since 1st June 1997, allocations of rice and wheat for population below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) were made to the States/UTs on monthly basis as fixed under the guidelines of TPDS. With a view to enable the State Governments to plan timely lifting of the allotted quantities of foodgrains and to make distribution cost effective, allocations of rice and wheat are now made to the States/UTs on bi-monthly basis from November, 1999. Under the revised procedure, the States /UTs and FCI have been allowed a validity period of 90 days to arrange lifting of the allotted foodgrains, reckoned from first day of the month preceding to the bi-monthly allocation period to the last date of the allocation period. The States/UTs can deposit payments of the cost of foodgrains allotted in more than one instalment as convenient to them but on or before 25th of the last month of the validity period. Extension in validity period for lifting un-lifted quantity of foodgrains is also granted as and when the State Governments seeks the same, with requisite justification for non-lifting. Allotment and off take Starvation deaths were reported from many Indian States including States like Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar. We looked in to the allotment and lifting of foodgrain, under the PDS system in these states. We have tried to compare the data of these States with the data of Andhra Pradesh. The data, of allotment of food grains, clearly indicates that allotment is not made on the basis of any formula or principle rather it is being done on the basis of political economy of the country and influence of State government over the central government. From the data and its analysis it is also clear that the share of foodgrains allotted for APL category is more then the total allotment of AAY and BPL Category combined together. The share of APL was 64 percent in the year 2002-03 and it was 62.1 percent in the year 2003-04.

Annual Report 2003-04, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Civil Supplies, Government of India

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�� D� �� §�¨�©(ª « ¬O�®�¯D° ¯�±�²³�´ ²h° ®�µ�¶ · ¬Jµ�±D° ²]µ ´³�´ ²h° ±�¶ · ²�²�²h° ¬�µ³ V¬�° · ¶

¬J± ´ ®�®D°�¬ ´ ³ ²�®h° µ�±�¶ µ�µ�±�±D¬�°�¬�µ�¸³ ²]�° ¸�¶ µ�µ�² · D° µV¬³ ±�¯D°�¬J¶ ¬J¯�² · ²h° ¸�µ]³ ¬O�° �±�¶ · ±�± ´ · ° ´ ²³ ®D° · ¶ ·�·�· ²�±D° ±�³ �° ²]¯�µ�¶¹�º�»�¼ ½D¾�¿]ÀÁ Â Ã The table above presents the statuses of allocation and off take of foodgrains to the States. From the data it is clear that the status of off take of foodgrains under the AAY category is better than BPL and APL categories. Among the States the performance of MP is better as the off take under the AAY category has been more than 90 percent in last three years. Off take of foodgrains allotted for BPL category has improved from 41 percent of total allotment to 81 percent. The performance of other States in this field has not been consistent. The off take by Rajasthan has been poorest among the selected States followed by Bihar where the proportion of off take to the total allocation for BPL is less than 10 percent has reduced over the years.

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In case of Madhya Pradesh the share of AAY and BPL combined together was 84.4 in 2001-02 which fell to 32.1 in 2002-03 and 35.8 in the year 2003-04. Among the States it is only Orissa where allotment is more than 50 percent. The allocation of foodgrains for APL category has been more than 50 percent of their total allocation of all categories in 6 out of seven States selected for the study.

The AAY households in Bihar are around 7.5 lakh more than Andhra but the allocation of foodgrain to Bihar is just 32 percent of the foodgrain allocated to the Andhra Pradesh. When we compare the number of AAY families in MP with number of AAY families in Andhra Pradesh it appears that Madhya Pradesh has 20 thousand families more than AP but in terms of allocation of foodgrain for AAY Madhya Pradesh gets only 30 percent of the total allotment of Andhra Pradesh. The situation of UP is even more worse which has almost 2.8 times more AAY households than AP but receives only 46 percent of the total allotment of foodgrains to AP.

Allotment of Foodgrain to AP & MP

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AP MP

Prices of Foodgrains for BPL and APL cardholders The analysis of prices brings another important dimension of foodgrain supply to people in selected States. The prices of foodgrains for Antyodaya cardholders are same across the States. The prices of foodgrain for BPL and APL category cardholders varies from State to State and the in some cases the prices varies from place to place within district e.g. MP.

Change in Rural Poverty in MP, AP & India

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

1973

-74

1977

-78

1983

1987

-88

1993

-94

1999

-00

Years

Pov

erty

Rat

io

MP

AP

India

If the cost is an indicator then there is no APL family in Andhra Pradesh as far as distribution of wheat is concerned. The State offers wheat at the rate of Rs. 7.00 per kilogramme both to BPL and APL category cardholders. Again the rice offered to the APL families is low in comparison to States like Bihar, Chhattisgarh, MP and Orissa. Madhya Pradesh offers wheat on a price, which is higher than Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Rajasthan and UP. The price of rice is highest in Madhya Pradesh amongst the study States. Central Issue Price of Rs.4.15 per kg for wheat and Rs.5.65 per kg for rice for the BPL families.

Status of Poverty in States We have looked into the status of poverty and change in the status of poverty among the selected States. In early seventies the poverty ratio in States like Bihar, MP and Orissa was more than 60 percent. The 55th round of NSS survey revealed that poverty in Madhya Pradesh has gone down to 37 percent but in case of Bihar and Orissa the proportion of rural poverty is still more than 40 percent. Bihar, MP and Orissa are the three main states where poverty ratio is still more than one-third of their rural population. If we compare the status of poverty and allotment of foodgrains Andhra Pradesh is again ahead of all the States, selected for the study, in getting allotment of foodgrains. The Allotment of foodgrains, for Andhra is more than any other State selected for the study (Table PDS-1) for all the categories of cardholders. The allotments of foodgrains to the poorer States are less than the comparatively rich States like AP, Karnataka and Kerala. Conclusion Madhya Pradesh has been able to lift 41 percent, 50 percent and 81 percent respectively in the year 2001-02, 2002-03 and 2003-04. The people involved in the management of PDS say that the cardholders do not purchase the foodgrains allotted to them. The information on website says that foodgrain has been distributed in more than 95 percent villages

3 Additional subsidy borne by State Government Differs from area to area

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but the data of MPCSC says that the off take by the district are very low. It appears that there is some problem somewhere in the management of PDS at State level. It is not clear that why the off take in Mandla and Dindori is so low both in the case of wheat and rice. It is also not clear that how the percentages of off take in Shivpuri is more than 100 percent. The simple reason is that the total numbers of BPL cards are fixed. There can be two explanations for this one is that the allotment to the district is low than the actual need and the second is that the either the number of BPL cardholders have gone up. In the second case the allotment for the next year should remain to the level of previous years off take but the data do not support this argument and the allotment for the years 2003-04 is much less than the allotment of 2001-02. by the reported is not correct or the situation presented in different document, of the government hide the ground reality. The similar question can be raised in the issues of allotment of foodgrains to States and off take by the State. It emerges clearly that the allotment is not based on any universal formula and the allotment is made on a different basis to different State.

Chapter – 5 System and Structures pertaining to PDS The system and structure pertaining to the Public Distribution System is managed jointly by Centre and State. The operations are governed by the Essential Commodities Act and PDS control Order 2001. We will look into the act and order separately and further we will analyse the institutional mechanism at State and sub-state level. 3.1. Essential Commodities Act The Essential Commodities Act was passes in 1955 after the expiration Essential Supplies Act 1946. This Act was passed in a view to give power to Central Government to ensure the supply of essential commodities on fair prices. This order allows government to intervene in the field of production, supply and distribution of essential commodities. The essential Commodities Act 1955 defines following as essential commodities:

(i) cattle fodder including oilcake and other concentrates (ii) coal including coke and other derivatives (iii) cotton and woollen textiles (iv) drugs (v) foodstuffs including edible oilseed and oils; (vi) iron and steel including manufactured products of iron and steel; (vii) paper including newsprint, paperboard and straw board; (viii) petroleum and petroleum products (ix) raw cotton and cotton seed (x) food crops including crop of sugarcane

The Act gives enormous power to the Central Government to regulate the production, sale, distribution of abovementioned essential commodities. The Central government can do so by issuing special orders and can implement the order through it’s own agents or through State Governments. The power of Central government is extended to have control over trade and commercial activities pertaining to these essential commodities. 3.2. PDS Control Order 2001 Government of India issued the Public Distribution System (Control) Order 2001 in August 2001 by using the powers conferred by section 3 of Essential Commodities Act. The purpose of the order was to ensure and maintain supplies, securing availability and distribution of essential commodities, through Public Distribution System. This order has provided a broader framework on following issues: (i) Identification of PBL and Antyodaya Families; Power of identifying BPL and Antyodaya Families rests with State Government. State government has the responsibility to review the list of BPL and Antyodaya families on yearly basis. Gram Sabha has the power to finalise the list of beneficiaries belonging to the BPL and Antyodaya categories. (ii) Ration cards It is the responsibility of the State Governments to ensure that all the eligible families have the ration card. State Government can distribute the ration card through any designate agency of the State or it can give the responsibility to the Gram Sabha or the Gram Panchayat. It is not mandatory for the State Government to declare Gram Sabha or the Gram Panchayat as designate agency for the distribution of ration card.

Issue of Ration Card is time bound and the designate agency has to issue the card within one month of the receipt of application. The responsibility of periodical checking of cards and verification of units would be the responsibility of State Government.

(iii) Scale and Issue price Central Government will ensure that States get their due share of food grains on time and it State governments are not allowed to divert the food grains for any purposes other then PDS.

(iv) Distribution of foodgrains Government of India, through FCI or any other designated agency, will ensure physical delivery of foodgrains to the State Governments. State governments shall issue district wise allocation orders of foodgrains with authorising agency or the nominee. Before distribution of foodgrains, the monitoring agency would display the stock of essential commodities available at FPS. The delivery of essential commodities to the Fair Price Shop would be the responsibility of State Government by their designate agency. The order expects that State governments would ensure that the quality of essential commodities, as issued from FCI storage remains the same and not replaced by the inferior quality. (v) Licensing Each State Government has to issue an order for regulating the sale and distribution of essential commodities. It is the responsibility of the concerned State Governments to issue the license to the Fair Price Shop owner. The license shall specify the duties and responsibilities of the Shop owner. These duties and responsibilities are specified in the central order itself that does not leave any room for State Governments. These are:

� Sale of essential commodities as per the entitlement of ration card holders; � The shop owner must display following information on a board:

� List of BPL and Antyodaya Families � Entitlement of essential commodities � Scale of issue � Retail issue prices � Timing of the shop � Stock of essential commodities received during the month � Opening and closing stock � The authority of redressal of grievances/lodging complaints

� Maintenance of records of ration card holders, stock register, issue and sale register � Providing details of records to the office of Gram Panchayat or Nagar Palika or Vigilance Committee or

to any other agency authorised by the State Government � Accountal of actual distribution of essential commodities and balance stock at the end of the month to the

designate authority of the State Government with a copy to the Gram Panchayat (vi) Monitoring. The order makes it clear that the responsibility of proper monitoring of all importanat aspect rests with the State Governments. They will monitor stock, distribution of essential commodities, the price and quantity given to each category of card holders, the systems necessary to follow by the Fair Price Shop. (vii) Vigilance Committee Meeting of the vigilance committee is part of the monitoring function of the State Government and thus the State Government is responsible for periodical meeting of the Vigilance Committee at each level. These levels are specified as State, District, Block and FPS level. (viii) Reporting The order specifies the system of reporting which is as follows:

The future allocation of the food grains, to the State Government is tied with the timely receipt of the report and utilisation certificate. (ix) Awareness Generation and Citizen’s Charter As per the order, it is the responsibility of the State Governments to educate the cardholders about the quantity and prices for each category (AAY, BPL and APL). The process of education includes areas like rights and privileges of the cardholders. State Government is also responsible for adopting and display of Citizen’s Charter, which should be based on the model Citizen’s Charter issues by the Central Government. State government shall also appoint an appellate authority for the purpose of this order. 3.3. Rules and Regulations framed by Madhya Pradesh Although there are several orders and rules to restrict and control the trade of commodities two are extremely important in the case of distribution of essential commodities through TPDS. These are Madhya Pradesh Food stuffs (Distribution) Control order 1960 and Madhya Pradesh Public Civil Supplies Scheme 1991. The later has been framed to ensure the effective implementation of Madhya Pradesh Food stuffs (Distribution) Control order 1960. 3.3.1. Madhya Pradesh Food stuffs (Distribution) Control order 1960 This order has seen many amendments and with the latest amendment in 2001 the Gram Sabha has been made responsible for issue of ration card, distribution of cards and maintaining the records of the ration cards. Gram Sabha is also authorised to issue special ration card to the families living below poverty line.

3.3.2. Madhya Pradesh Public Civil Supplies Scheme 1991

There would be one FPS on a population of 5000 in urban areas. Fair Price Shops would be opened in a manner so that the cardholder should not travel more tan 3 kilometres. If cardholders, in rural areas, are travelling more than 3 kilometres to get ration from FPS then in such cases new FPS can be opened. The Janpad Panchayat shall allot new Fair Price Shop in areas under the administrative control of Janpad Panchayat. The new shops shall be given to the cooperative societies only. If there is more than one cooperative society in the new proposed area then in such cases the selection of cooperative society would be done on the basis of recommendations of the sub-registrar, cooperative societies. The Scheme fixes responsibility of the Society and the Shop operated by the societies which are as follows: − It is the responsibility of the society of lift and place the allotted food stock at the FPS in the first week

of every month; − The shopkeeper shall be responsible to keep the necessary record related to allotment, lifting and

distribution of stock. The shopkeeper shall also ensure the correct entry in the ration cards;

State Government by the 15th of each month

By FPS to To district authority by the 7th of each month

Central Government by the end of each month

− The shopkeeper is expected to provide all the details related to allotment of stock to the vigilance committee of the FPS in writing and she/he shall also place the details on the notice board of the Gram Panchayat.

− The FPS shall have necessary space to store half of the monthly quota of the commodities fixed for the shop.

Institutional Set-up for PDS The PDS is managed by FCI, Sugar mills and company depot at level one. The institutions at level one focus on procurement of production and releasing the commodities to State agencies. The FCI focuses on procurement of foodgrains and supply of foodgrains to the agency of State government. The second level operations are managed by the Stat agencies and Madhya Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation plays critical role. MPSCSC gives allotment to the district level agencies mainly the lead societies. The lead societies lift commodities from FCI godowns and from other specified places. The FPS receives commodities from link societies, Annadoots and the Teldoots. The MPSCSC also runs mobile Vans to directly provide essential commodities to the cardholders in remote and inaccessible areas. The Flow diagram of supply is given below for further clarifications.

Flow Chart – 1

L eavy

M A R K F E D

M P S C S C

P rocu rem en t

F ood C orp ora tion o f In d ia F C I

A n n a D oot

M ob ile V an s C ard H o ld e r

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L in k S oc ie ty

L in k S oc ie ties

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S u g u r M ill

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L eadS oc ie ty/

S em iW h o lse lle r

D E A L E R

C om p an y D ep ot

P D SO rg an isa tion a l s tru c tu re

Organisation set up of Department of Food The organisational set-up of the Department is presented in the flow chart presented below (Flow Chart – 2). The department is headed by the minister and a Principal Secretary is overall responsible authority below the minister. It is further divided into 6 branches below the PS level. These branches are Directorate of Food, secretariat within the ministry, Controller Weights and Measures, Rajya Upbhokta Sangh, MPSCSC and MPSWC. Each of these wings have their own role and responsibilities.

O rgan isational S tru c tu re at S ta te L evel

S taff

A ss is tan ctD irec tor

D ep u ty D irec tor

Jo in t D irec tor

D IR E C TO R F O O D

S taff

U n d er S ecretary

D E P U TY S E C R E TA R Y

S taff

A ss is tan c t C on tro ller

D ep u ty C on tro ller

J o in t C on tro ller

C on tro llerW eig h ts an d M eas u res

S taff

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C h ia rm anR ajya U p b hok ta S an gh

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R eg iona l M an ag er

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S taff

E n g in eers M an ag ers

S ec retary

M A N A G IN G D IR E C TO RM P S W C

P rn ic ip le S eceretary Food

Food M in is ter

Flow Chart – 2

The State level institutions are responsible for planning and monitoring. The responsibility of execution lies with district level institutions. District level institutions Within district set-up, Asst. Supply officers and Junior Supply officers are posted at Sub-Divisions and at Block level. There are separate numbers of J.S.O.'s for the urban area. Certain large tehsil have separate W& M inspectors. This district level set-up is responsible for ensuring supply and monitoring of PDS system. The set-up is given ion flow chart – 3

O rg an isa t ion a l S ru c tu re a t D is tric t L eve l

Junior SupplyOfficer

A ssistant SupplyC ontrolle r / O fficer

D istric t SupplyC ontrolle r / O fficer

Staff

Inspectors(W & M )

D eputy / A ssistan t C ontrolle r(W & M )

Staff

M embers

P resident

Staff

G odow n Incharge

D istric t M a nagers

Flow Chart – 3

Fair Price Shop The Fair Price Shops are managed by societies. Various State-owned Societies are involved in to the running of FPS. The total numbers of shops are given into the table below. There are around 744 Mahila Upbhokta Bhandar, which is also given in the table.

Khandwa is the only district where around 46 percent villages have FPS. Mandla has FPS in 35 percent villages. In all other districts the percentage of villages having FPS is less than 30 meaning around 70 percent villages of the study district are shop less and people have to travel to other places for getting food from FPS. Around 28 percent of the total villages of Madhya Pradesh have FPS that means that around 72 percent villages do not have the shop within village. The table 3.2 shows the prices of commodities for different categories of cardholders.

The rates for rice and wheat differ for each category. The lowest price is for the Antyodaya Yojana The rate of sugar and kerosene is same for all the categories.

Vigilance and Public participation5 With the introduction of TPDS and new system Panchayat Raj in Madhya Pradesh the State Government has reconstituted Vigilance Committees at Block and FPS level to review the functioning of the PDS.

a. F.P.S. Level Committee:- The Committee shall consists of Sarpanch as the chairman, one representative of the link society, three representatives of the beneficiaries ( APL, BPL and Antyodaya), representatives of Nehru Yuva Kendra and Self Help Groups, Senior teacher and Panchayat Secretary.

b. Block Level Committee The structure of committee is given in the table 3.3

This section has been written on the basis of information available on the website of the Department of Food, GoMP

Table 3.1 Number of Shops under Public distribution System No District Urban

shops Rural Shops

Total Mahila Upbhokta Bhandar

1. Shivpuri 55 303 358 11 2. Dhar 54 442 496 0 3. Jhabua 24 278 302 0 4. Khandwa 107 370 477 57 5. Seoni 21 349 370 14 6. Mandla 18 336 354 7 7. Dindori 6 177 183 0 TOTAL M.P. 3456 15538 18994 744

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c. District Level Committee: The District Collector heads The District Level Monitoring Committee.

d. State Level Vigilance Committee: - This Committee is headed by minister of the department and includes high-ranking officers of state and two representatives from public, nominated by the State Government.

The structure of vigilance committees explains that there has been an attempt to include the Panchayat representatives at FPS level and block level. There is no participation of the representatives of Zila Panchayat in the system of vigilance. From block onwards the committees have powerful government officers but weak in terms of ensuring community representation. The government members can interact and take immediate steps on complaints but the poor representation of people’s representatives can we aken the inflow of complaints.

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Chapter – 6 Study Districts and Public Distribution System Each district has a fixed number of families under each category of AAY, BPL and APL. This number decides the allotment quota for districts. It is assumed that the allotment of the food grains to the districts would be made on the basis of 35 kilogramme food per family for all the rural households. The allotment quota for rural families is same for all categories but prices of food grains differ. The status of districts on the basis of poverty and Human Development Index is presented in the table DPDS-1. Mandla, Dindori and Jhabua are among the poorest districts of the State and these districts are also the poorest among the study districts. These districts have highest percentage of SC and ST population in State as well as among the study districts. In terms of Human Development Index, Jhabua and Shivpuri are rank among the district with very low HDI. Table PDS-4 explains the situation Allotments of Foodgrains and off take by Districts The data presented on the website of the Department of food, GoMP it emerges that the distribution efficiency is very good. Data of Shivpuri and Seoni show that State was unable to provide TPDS food grains to around 5 percent villages. In all other study district more than 95 percent villages have received the foodgrains (Table ¢r£P¢D¤ ¥ ¦ ). The data about absolute number of poor in districts informs that Jhabua has highest number of poor families followed by Mandla and Seoni. Shivpuri has the lowest number of poor among the study districts. Allotment and Lifting of foodgrains Wheat is preferred over rice in Dhar, Jhabua, Shivpuri and Parts of Khandwa. Rice is the preferred over wheat in Mandla, Dindori, Seoni. The study has analysed the allotment of wheat and rice to the districts separately. At the end of this section we have looked into the combined allotment of foodgrains to the districts.

District Total Families

BPL Proportion of rural families below poverty line in 1997-98

Percentage of SC/ST Population 2001

HDI of the district

Shivpuri 211649 62684 29.62 29.98 0.473 Dhar 258736 100281 38.76 60.99 0.559 Seoni 252000 104339 41.4 47.12 0.55 Khandwa 221444 99269 44.83 40.76 0.563 Jhabua 211997 115256 54.37 89.66 0.372 Dindori 117256 66947 57.09 70.31 0.557 Mandla 188546 111397 59.08 61.85 0.578 MP 8351747 3683126 44.10 Table DPDS-1 Source: M.P. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT – 2003, CENSUS – 2001, Official website of Department of Rural Development, Government of Madhya Pradesh, December 2004.

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Figure-1

Wheat Data on allotment of wheat to the districts provides an opportunity to see whether the allotment is made on the basis of number of poor families or not. The analysis of data on allotment of wheat to the study districts tells that the allotment of wheat is not made on the basis of BPL families in the district.

Allotment of Wheat and rank of the Districts on the basis of allotment of Wheat to study districts

District BPL Families

Rank

Year 2001-02 Rank Year 2002-03 Rank Year 2003-04 Rank Jhabua 115256 1 26112 2 27120 3 39288 2 Mandla 111397 2 4692 6 6228 6 17292 5 Seoni 104339 3 10800 4 14448 5 23436 4 Dhar 100281 4 30240 1 53016 1 58620 1 Khandwa 99269 5 13308 3 30588 2 37692 3 Dindori 66947 6 3600 7 5652 7 10140 6 Shivpuri 62684 7 7200 5 18540 4 6672 7 Table: DPDS – 3

Ideally Jhabua should have received maximum allotment, among the 7 study districts, but rank of Jhabua in terms of allotment of wheat was 2nd in 2001-02, 3rd in 2003-04 and again 2nd in 2003-04. Among the study districts the numbers of BPL families are highest in Mandla after Jhabua but the in terms of allotment of wheat Mandla was placed 6th in 2001-02 and 2002-03 and 5th in 2003-04. Khandwa is placed 5th in terms of number of poor families in the district but in terms of the allotment of wheat to the district it was ranked 3rd in 2001-02, 2nd in n2002-03 and again 3rd in 2003-04. The data collected from the MPSCC gives a different image of districts. The performance of district can be jugged by the off take of foodgrains against the total allotment of the foodgrain to the district. The Status of allotment and off take, of wheat is presented in table DPDS – 4. From the Table it emerges that the status of off take is not constant over the years. Offtake in Dindori is worst as the district was able to lift only 33.8 percent in 2001-02, 27.7 percent in 2002-03 and 3.3 percent in 2003-04. Seoni is placed second after Dindori as district lifted 63 percent of the total wheat allotted to Seoni. The performance was poorer in next two years. Situation in Jhabua and Dhar is also not good (see table DPDS – 4). Shivpuri is the only district that has been able to lift more that the wheat allocated to the district. Performance of Jhabua has gone down considerably.

Two graphs above show the fluctuation in allotment and lifting of Wheat at district level.

Lifting of Wheat by Districts for BPL Families BPL (Percentage of off take) District

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Jhabua 70.4 95.0 84.5

Mandla 69.9 51.1 19.9 Seoni 63.0 56.7 48.0 Dhar 93.2 58.5 68.9

Khandwa 113.7 73.3 78.3 Dindori 33.8 27.5 3.3

Shivpuri 122.1 81.2 168.5 Table: DPDS – 4 Source: MPCSC, Data collected for the study, December 2004

A llo tm ent o f W heat F o r B PL

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onne

s BPL(allotment intonnes)2001-02

BPL(allotment intonnes)2002-03

BPL(allotment intonnes)2003-04

Figure – 2

Lif ting o f W heat

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B P L ( L if t inginP erc ent a g es )2 0 0 1 - 0 2B P L ( L if t inginP erc ent a g es )2 0 0 2 - 0 3B P L ( L if t inginP erc ent a g es )2 0 0 3 - 0 4

Figure – 3

Rice The Status of allotment of rice is presented in table: DPDS – 5. The situation of off take of rice has been comparatively better in Khandwa. But the percentage of off take has gone down in last three years. It is important to note that the total allotment of rice has changed over the years. The change shows a fluctuating trend of quantity allotted to the district. The data does not suggest that the allotment is made on the basis of the number of BPL families simply because the number of families is fixed while the allotment is changing continuously. Combined Allotment and Lifting The separate allotment data for rice and wheat does not provide a comprehensive picture of the situation. In order to understand the overall situation the study has analysed the status of overall allotment of foodgrain and lifting of foodgrains by districts. The study has calculated the total annual requirement of study districts which is shown in the table DPDS- 6. The allotment figures show that allotment is not made on the basis of requirement. The allotment should have been more for Jhabua and then for Mandla, Seoni, Dhar, Khandwa, Dindori and Shivpuri. In reality Jhabua was ranked 1st in the year 2001-02 but in 2002-03 and 2003-04 it was ranked 3rd. Similarly Mandla has always received allotment less than Seoni, Dhar and Khandwa where as the number of poor families are more in Mandla than the abovementioned districts. The table DPDS-6 provides complete picture of the situation.

Allotment of Foodgrains and rank of the Districts District BPL Families

Rank Annual Requirement (In tonnes)

Year 2001-02 Rank Year 2002-03 Rank Year 2003-04 Rank

Jhabua 115256 1 48,407.52 33312 1 32664 3 43644 3 Mandla 111397 2 46,786.74 19092 4 25272 4 25488 5 Seoni 104339 3 43,822.38 20904 3 25164 5 29412 4 Dhar 100281 4 42,118.02 31056 2 56280 1 59928 1 Khandwa 99269 5 41,692.98 18384 5 43548 2 46596 2 Dindori 66947 6 28,117.74 13176 6 15432 7 20112 6 Shivpuri 62684 7 26,327.28 9120 7 20940 6 7824 7 Table: DPDS – 6

It is interesting to know that in the year 2001-02 no district received foodgrain allotment as per their need. In the year 2002-03 and 2003-04 two districts namely Dhar and Khandwa received allotment more than their requirement. Dhar received 133.6 percent in 2002-03 and 142.3 percent in 2003-04 and Khandwa received 104.4 percent in 2002-03 and 111.8 percent in the year 2003-04. The percentage allotment against the requirement is shown in the table DPDS – 7. The allotment to the Mandla, Dindori, Seoni and Shivpuri is well below the actual need of the districts. The graph – 4 also shows the status of annual requirement and allotment to the districts in last three financial years.

Allotment and Off take of Rice through PDS BPL (allotment in tonnes) BPL (Proportion of off take) District 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04

Shivpuri 1920 2400 1152 78.6 67.8 68.6 Dhar 816 3264 1308 59.9 36.0 84.0 Seoni 10104 10716 5976 45.8 56.9 111.3 Khandwa 5076 12960 8904 120.3 67.1 94.1 Jhabua 7200 5544 4356 80.2 97.2 85.4 Dindori 9576 9780 9972 39.5 39.0 35.1 Mandla 14400 19044 8196 45.6 32.7 68.5 Table: PDS – 5; Source: MPCSC, Data collected for the study, December 2004

Percentage of allotment against total requirement

District Annual Requirement (In tonnes) Year

2001-02 Year 2002-03

Year 2003-04

Jhabua 48,407.52 68.8 67.5 90.2 Mandla 46,786.74 40.8 54.0 54.5 Seoni 43,822.38 47.7 57.4 67.1 Dhar 42,118.02 73.7 133.6 142.3 Khandwa 41,692.98 44.1 104.4 111.8 Dindori 28,117.74 46.9 54.9 71.5 Shivpuri 26,327.28 34.6 79.5 29.7

Table: DPDS – 7

AAY Families

0100002000030000400005000060000

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AAY Families

R e qu ir e m e n t a n d A llo tm e n t o f food gr a i n s to th e d is tr i ct s

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Dis tricts and Year

AnnualRequirment (Intonnes)

Allotment ofWheat to theDistricts Year2001-02



Figure - 4

Districts have performed poorly in lifting the foodgrains allotted to them. The performance of Mandla and Dindori has gone down over the years. In the year 2001-02 Mandla lifted 51.6 percent of the foodgrains allotted to the district that went down to 35.5 percent in the year 2003-04. Dindori has not lifted more than 40 percent in last three years and in last year the district lifted only 19 percent of the total allotment to the district. Table DPDS – 8 presents the status of lifting by the districts in last three financial years. The data shows that Shivpuri and Khandwa have performed well in lifting the quota allotted to the districts but this is well below the total requirement of the district. In the year 2002-03 the allotment was 79.5 percent of the requirement but the lifting by the district was 79.6 percent. This shows that districts are unable to address the issue of food security through PDS. It also shows that the indirect subsidy through food is not reaching to the poor. Status of Allotment and lifting of foodgrain for Antyodaya Category Among the seven study districts, Shivpuri has highest number of Antyodaya families thus ranked 1st with 47833 families and Dindori is ranked 7th with 15282 families. The table DPDS–9 presents a picture of AAY families, the quantity of foodgrain required for AAY families and Status of lifting from 2001-02 to 2003-04. Situation of allotment has improved in 2003-04 from 2001-02. The allotment of foodgrains for AAY category, to the State of MP, has

Lifting of foodgrains for BPL households with their Ranking

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Districts

Lifting Percentage of lifting against Allotment



Jhabua 24152 72.5 31141 95.3 36897 84.5 Mandla 9843 51.6 9418 37.3 9060 35.5 Seoni 11437 54.7 14285 56.8 17897 60.8 Dhar 28685 92.4 32180 57.2 41468 69.2 Khandwa 21235 115.5 31104 71.4 37908 81.4 Dindori 4996 37.9 5367 34.8 3834 19.1 Shivpuri 10302 113.0 16673 79.6 12034 153.8 Table: DPDS – 8

L ift in g of Fo od g r a in s by th e d is t r i c ts fo r BP L fa m il ie s

01 0 0 0 02 0 0 0 03 0 0 0 04 0 0 0 05 0 0 0 0

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L if t ing2 0 0 1 - 0 2

L if t ing2 0 0 2 - 0 3

L if t ing2 0 0 3 - 0 4

Figure - 5

Figure - 6

increased from 47.4 percent in 2001-02 to 82.2 percent in the years 2003-04. It is important to note that the present requirement and allotment analysis is based on the number of families identified as Antyodaya families and have been given cards also. This analysis does not include the 3 lakh additional families identified as Antyodaya and have not received cards till date. If we include them than percentage of allotment to the total requirement would go down substantially.

The data highlights the issue that agencies are not allocating the total quantity of

foodgrains required for AAY families in the district. It shows that planning and coordination is

not effective because if all the poorest families, of the district, come to the shop and demand their full quota of 35 kilogram the agencies would not be able to provide them their quota of foodgrains.

Allotment and Lifting of Wheat in MP for AAY category (Quantity in MT)

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Districts Number of AAY Families In Study Districts R

ank

Annual Requirement of foodgrains on the basis of quota fixed for households

Allotment

Rank Allotment Rank Allotment Rank

Shivpuri 47833 1 20089.86 3108 (15.5)

6 4381 (21.8)

6 13192.8 (65.7)

1

Mandla 30093 2 12639.06 5785 (45.8)

2 7935 (62.8)

2 10654.4 (84.3)

2

Jhabua 23275 3 9775.5 5148 (52.7)

3 7282 (74.5)

3 8648.6 (88.5)

3

Khandwa 22969 4 9646.98 5832 (60.5)

1 8177 (84.8)

1 8090.6 (83.9)

5

Dhar 21814 5 9161.88 4824 (52.7)

4 6815 (74.4)

4 8105 (88.5)

4

Seoni 21106 6 8864.52 4569 (51.5)

5 6468 (73.0)

5 7308.8 (82.5)

6

Dindori 15282 7 6418.44 2040 (31.8)

7 2792 (43.5)

7 4636.4 (72.2)

7

MP 953234 400358.28 189720 (47.4)

261140 (65.2)

329079 (82.2)

Figures in Bracket show allotment in percentage of total requirements. Table: DPDS – 9

R equirem ent and A llo tm ent o f fo o dg rains to the districts fo r A A Y C ateg io ry

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Figure - 7

L ift in g of fo od g r a in s by D i st r ic ts for A A Y S ch e m e

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Data on lifting of foodgrains by the district shows that status of lifting of foodgrains for AAY Scheme is better than the BPL Scheme. All the districts have lifted more than 80 percent of the total quota allotted to the district. In the year 2003 – 04 Jhabua lifted 84.9 percent of the total quota of foodgrain allotted to the district and Seoni lifted 97 percent of the quota of foodgrain allotted to the district. Dhar is the only district that lifted 100 percent of the quota allotted to the district for AAY scheme in the year 2002–03. Seoni and Shivpuri are two districts that have continuously lifted more than 90 percent since the beginning of the scheme. Wheat Allotment of wheat to the study districts has improved over the year since the beginning of the program. Allotment of wheat to Madhya Pradesh was almost doubled from 132600 metric tonnes in 2001 – 02 to 275171 metric tonnes in 2003 – 04. Lifting of foodgrains by the State for AAY category has always less than the allotment.

Figure - 8

Lifting of Foodgrains for AAY category

District Lifting 2001-02

Lifting 2002-03

Lifting 2003-04

Shivpuri 97.52 92 92.6 Mandla 95.33 84.9 96.2 Jhabua 98.73 82.2 84.9 Khandwa 99.68 96.7 88.2 Dhar 99.53 100 81.2 Seoni 94.19 98.8 97 Dindori 87.14 98 86.1 State 91.05 96.1 89.5 Table: DPDS – 10

Allotment and Lifting of Wheat in MP for AAY category (Quantity in MT)

2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 Districts AAY Families Allotment Lifting Allotment Lifting Allotment Lifting

Shivpuri 47833 2628 97.15 3895 92.97 12687.8 92.51 Dhar 21814 4572 100.65 6542 100.00 7911.2 81.14

Jhabua 23275 4800 99.03 6949 81.30 8448.2 84.61 Seoni 21106 2400 93.07 3415 100.04 4668.6 96.83

Mandla 30093 1644 91.55 2377 99.21 5166.8 94.86 Dindori 15282 588 83.49 809 99.31 2193.4 81.81

Khandwa 22969 4440 100.23 6352 97.33 7015.2 88.33 MP 953234 132600 90.16 192420 96.13 275171 88.64

Table: DPDS – 11

A llotm e n t of W h e a t to th e D istr icts u n d e r A A Y

02 0 0 04 0 0 06 0 0 08 0 0 0

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AAY-Wheat 2001-02 Allotment



A llo tm e n t a n d L ift in g o f W h e a t u n d e r A A Y ca te go r y

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Figure - 9 Figure - 10

The data of allotment of wheat for district shows that allotment of wheat to Shivpuri increased three times in last three years. In 2001 – 02 the allotment to the district was 47833 tonnes which was increased to 12687.8 tonnes in the year 2003 – 04. Allotment to Dindori has been lowest among the seven study district and there has been very little increase in the allotment as well. Data on lifting of wheat provides information about the status of management at district level. Lifting of wheat by Shivpuri is consistent as district has regularly lifted more than 90 percent of the foodgrains allotted to the district. Lifting of wheat by district Dindori has been inconsistent as district lifted 83 percent of the total allotment in 2001 – 02 and in 2002 – 03 district lifted 99.31 percent of the wheat allotted to the district. In the year 2003 – 04 district Dindori lifted 81.81 percent of the total wheat allotment to the district. Rice It is surprising that quantity of allotment of wheat and rice are almost same for Dindori. In the year 2003 – 04 the allotment of wheat to the district was 2193.4 metric tonnes and the allotment of rice was 2443 tonnes. If we take the case of Shivpuri the allotment of wheat was 12687.8 metric tonnes in 2003 – 04 and allotment of rice for the same year was 505 tonnes. The issue here is that people prefer rice over wheat in Dindori and wheat over rice in Shivpuri hence the difference in allotment of different foodgrains to Shivpuri is explained by eating habit but same cannot be said about Dindori.

The graph – 12 shows it clearly that allotment of rice to Seoni, Mandla, Dindori and Khandwa is more than other three study districts. Very nominal quantity of rice has been allotted to district like Jhabua, Dhar and Shivpuri. The allotment for

Khandwa has decreased in 2003 – 04 from their allotted quota of 2002 – 03.

L i fti n g o f W h e a t by D i st r i c ts u n d e r A A Y C a te g o r y

0.0

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t AAY-Wheat 2001-02 Lifting

AAY-Wheat 2002-03 Lifting

AAY-Wheat 2003-04 Lifting

Figure – 11

Allotment and Lifting of Rice in MP for AAY category 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 District

Allotment Lifting Allotment Lifting Allotment Lifting Shivpuri 480 99.58 486 84.36 505 95.47 Dhar 252 79.09 273 100 193.8 82.46 Jhabua 348 94.54 333 100 200.4 96.71 Seoni 2169 95.43 3053 97.34 2640.2 97.42 Mandla 4141 96.84 5558 78.74 5487.6 97.39 Dindori 1452 88.62 1983 97.48 2443 89.91 Khandwa 1392 97.92 1825 94.58 1075.4 87.57 State 57120 93.11 68720 96.20 53908 93.69 Table: DPDS – 12

A llo tm ent o f R ice Under Anty o day a C ateg o ry

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A A Y - R ice 2 0 0 1 - 0 2A llo t m en tA A Y - R ice 2 0 0 2 - 0 3A llo t m en tA A Y - R ice 2 0 0 3 - 0 4A llo t m en t

Figure – 12

Al l ot ment and L i f t i n g of R i ce under A AY S cheme i n MP

0

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Figure – 13

Data on lifting of wheat by districts show that lifting by Dindori is fluctuating. Dindori lifted 88.62 percent in 2001 – 02, 97.48 percent in 2002 – 03 and 89.91 percent in 2003 – 04.

Lifting o f R ice fo r AAY C ardho lders B y D istricts

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A A Y - R ic e2 0 0 1 - 0 2L if t ingA A Y - R ic e2 0 0 2 - 0 3L if t ingA A Y - R ic e2 0 0 3 - 0 4L if t ing

Figure – 14

30

Chapter – 7 Food Grain: Availability and Requirement Own production of foodgrains is the basic source of foodgrain but it is not the only source. Foodgrain as wages, purchase of foodgrain from open market and FPS and taking foodgrain on credit either from local moneylender or form the big farmers are other sources of the foodgrain for people. In villages of the study district the people categorised themselves in to three to four categories. These categories are presented in the table below.

Category I Category II Category III Category IV Category IV

Ass

ets

Big farmers who have bigger landholding, equipments for irrigation, and other machines like tractors etc.

Farmers with land holding between 5-8 acres. Depend on others for irrigation and have limited agricultural machines.

Small and marginal farmers with land holding of less than 5 acres of land. No irrigation facility and no agricultural machines.

Rural Artisans: The demand for traditional products has either vanished or has gone down. Have small piece of land

Landless labourers and people with small piece of land which barren and not productive at all.

Dep

end

ency

Own land. Many such families have other businesses in nearby market or town.

Own land and other economic activities like purchase and sale of foodgrains, opening small shop in market. One or two family members are in some government or private service

Own land provides sustenance for three to six months. Working as agricultural wage labour and in construction sector are important sources. Some families do migrate outside the village to work as agricultural labourers.

Own small piece of land sometimes provides foodgrains for 2-3 months. Working as agricultural wage labour and in construction sector are important sources. Some families do migrate outside the village to work as agricultural labourers.

These families Work as agricultural wage labour and as labour in construction sector as well. Most of them do not work in any single sector as labour. They are ready to works as labour in any sector. Almost all the families do migrate outside the village to work as agricultural labourers.

The performance and utility of PDS can best be assessed in terms of its ablility to provide food grains and other essential commodities during the time of scarcity. The FPS should be able to provide subsidised food grains and other commodities during the lean season when people have shortage of food grains and at the same time there are very limited opportunities available to them to earn cash and grains through wages. In the present chapter we have tried to map the status of supply and availability of food grain in the rural areas of study district. Further the study has focussed on the response of people about the effectiveness of FPS during the time of need. Both the qualitative and the quantitative data has been analysed for understanding the situation of need and supply.

31

1. Status of Availability of Food Grains It was observed in the villages that majority of the families do not have sufficient foodgrain necessary for their annual domestic consumption. The additional foodgrain requirement is met through cash and foodgrain earned through wages. The cash helps people to purchase foodgrain from Fair Price Shop and open market. Study tried to analyse the sources of supply of food grains to the rural families especially the poorer families. It emerges from the analyses of focussed group discussion that own production and wages are the two main source of foodgrain supply for poorer families in the villages. Wages have special role in the lives of wage-earners. It provides them wages in terms of kinds and cash both. Wages in kinds are generally foodgrains. Thus the wages are an important source of foodgrain supply to the families depending on wages. The discussion with people revealed that the foodgrains collected from own production and through wages are unable to fulfil the annual food grain requirement of the families in almost all that cases. Apart from wages the rural families earn cash through the sale of forest produce and other materials like sale of products of rural artisans.

The table 4.1 shows the stages of supply of food grains, to the families in four stages. These stages are own production, foodgrains on credit from local moneylender or landlords, purchase from fair price shop and finally purchase from open market.

The table makes it clear that FPS shop is the preferred option for families than open market.

Table 4.2 Various source of food requirement of the families in the study area District Own Production Wages FPS Local Market Shivpuri Limited which is less

than 20 percent Wages contribute food grains and cash both. The cash helps in getting rest of the food grains

The additional food grains requirement is met from FPS.

Very limited quantity is purchased from local market

Jhabua Own production is sufficient for five to six months

Generally people depend on wages for a period of 6 to 7 months.

Usually the requirement of wheat and rice is met from FPS.

Need of other cereals like maize and pulses are met from local Market

Table 4.1 Sources of Supply of Food Grains Stages

Small and marginal Farmers

Landless labourers Rural artisans

Stage I

Own production

− Food grains earned as agricultural labourer

− Own production from land leased in

− Sale of own products − Own production from

land leased in Stage II Credit from money lender

and landlords Credit from money lender and landlords Credit from money lender

and landlords

Stage III Fair Price Shop Fair Price Shop Fair Price Shop Stage IV Open Market Open Market Open Market Source: Analysis of Focused Group Discussion, PDS study, 2004

32

Dhar Own production is sufficient for five to six months

Wages are the second largest source of livelihood. Both food and cash is earned. This is sufficient for rest of the food grain requirement.

Usually the requirement of wheat and rice is met from FPS.

Need of other cereals like maize and pulses are met from local Market

Khandwa Self production supports for a period of two to three months.

Dependency on wages is for a period of 5-8 months.

50 percent of the total requirement is purchased from FPS

Rest 50 percent is purchased from local market.

Seoni Half of family requirement is met from own production

Wages arrange additional employment that helps in arranging food for rest of the period.

More than one-third of the total requirement of food grain is purchased from FPS

Local market is accessed for a period of three to four months.

Around 60 percent of total grain requirement is met from own production.

Round 20 percent of the requirement is met from the grain and cash earned from wages.

30 percent of the requirement is met by purchasing grains from FPS

5 percent grains, of the total annual requirement, are purchased from local market.

Mandla

5 percent need is met from grains collected form forest or by selling the forest produce in market. 35 to 50 percent of the food requirement is met from the source for around 4 months. This is mainly during agricultural season.

The wages add 40-50 percent of the total food requirement all along the year. Wages here means the wages in terms of food grains

More than one-third of the food grain requirement is met by purchasing food grains from fair price shops all along the year.

More than 15 percent, of the total food requirement is met from local market, during lean season when there is no crop. Almost six months

Dindori

# Harvesting and cropping season provide less then 5 percent of total monthly grain requirement. # The forest produce also provide cash and food material that helps in fulfilling at least the 5 percent of the total grain requirement.

Source: Analysis of Focused Group Discussion, PDS study, 2004

The food grain is purchased from FPS and from local market. Fair Price Shop primarily provides food grains only. The requirement

of pulses, other cereals like Maize and Jowar are fulfilled from local market.

The abovementioned table gives important information about the

dependency pattern of rural families vis-à-vis the food grain requirement. From the table it is evident that:

� in majority of the places the own production is unable to fulfill the requirement of

food grains � the wages are the major source of livelihood. In many cases wages provide

sustenance nearly for 6-7 months. � food grain is purchased from the market when there is shortage of food grains at

home � open market is the last option for purchase of food grains from market 1.1.Sources of fulfilling food requirements It is evident from above tables that in the entire district and within the card category most of the respondents opine that the Public distribution system do not fulfil their food grain

33

requirement for whole year. Hence what are the sources through which the respondents accomplish their food grain requirement were observed. It is very interesting to note that out of 1960 respondents 50 percent of the respondents said that they fulfil their requirement from the food grains they produce. Within the district most of the respondents (more than 25%) from Jhabua and Dindori accomplish through their own production. About 20 percent fulfil their food requirement through open market. In this category most of the respondents i.e. more than 27% are from district Dhar and Khandwa, while 23% are from Shivpuri. Within district the trend of taking food on credit or lifting according to requirement is in district Shivpuri and Seoni as most of the respondents in both district opt for the system of taking commodities credit. There are other sources from which people manage the requirement and these are

� Earning wages in kind � Selling their cattle � Taking food grains from friends and relatives � Take cash from sahukaar (the moneylender) on collateral and then purchase form

market.

If analyse on the basis of card category most of the respondents from AAY category 37% use what they produce, 23% purchase on credit and 18% manage from other source which are mentioned above. While in the category of the BPL 54% uses from their own production and 20% purchase from open market and 10% take on credit and manage from other sources. In the category of APL more than 60% accomplish from their production and 23% purchase from open market. 2. Status of Requirement of foodgrains The demand of the foodgrain depends on the requirement of the household. The requirement depends on the number of family members or the size of the household. This study has not collected data on the size of the households but we do have collected information from the household about their monthly foodgrain requirement. This data has

Table-7.11. Source of Fulfilment of Food Grains Requirement District Own

Production Purchase from Open Market

On Credit

Manage through other sources

None Total

Dhar 114 115 41 5 5 280 Percentage 11.46 28.89 14.59 2.12 8.33 Dindori 254 2 6 1 6 269 Percentage 25.53 0.50 2.14 0.42 10.00 Jhabua 263 15 9 6 1 294 Percentage 26.43 3.77 3.20 2.54 1.67 Khandwa 63 111 13 73 30 290 Percentage 6.33 27.89 4.63 30.93 50.00 Mandla 142 8 23 104 2 279 Percentage 14.27 2.01 8.19 44.07 3.33 Seoni 75 53 92 43 15 278 Percentage 7.54 13.32 32.74 18.22 25.00 Shivpuri 84 94 97 4 1 280 Percentage 8.44 23.62 34.52 1.69 1.67 Total 995 398 281 236 60 1970 Percentage 50.5 20.2 14.3 12.0 3.0 Source: Analysis of Focused Group Discussion, PDS study, 2004

34

been analysed foodgrain wise and commodity wise. Results of this analysis are presented in following sections. People prefer wheat than any other foodgrain in Shivpuri. Wheat is also taken with rice in Districts like Khandwa and Seoni. In places like Jhabua and Dhar Maize and some other local millet are more preferred than Wheat and Rice. Rice is very common in places like Dindori, Mandla and Seoni. Apart from rice Maize and other local millets are still used in these places. Our analysis of requirement should be analysed in keeping above-mentioned situation about dietary pattern of study districts. It is also important to understand here that the data on requirement of foodgrain does not provide complete information about total requirement. It basically tells about the requirement of Wheat and Rice only where as daily food basket of a common household includes many other foodgrains apart from Wheat and Rice. 2.1.Requirement among Antyodaya Families Five hundred seventy five Antyodaya families had been selected for the data collection in this study. District wise details are given in each of the table presented here. The data shows that requirement of rice is very less than the requirement of Wheat. While 50.8 percent Antyodaya families need 26-35 kilogram wheat per month no family in any of the study districts requires more than 25 kilogram per month. Requirement of rice is very-very less in places like Dhar, Jhabua, Khandwa and Shivpuri. Around 32 percent AAY families need between 1 to 5 kilogram rice per month and another 47.8 percent families need between 16 to 25 kilogram rice per month.

Table: Monthly Requirement of Rice for AAY families

Table: Monthly Requirement of Wheat for AAY families

Requirement in Kilogram per month Requirement in Kilogram per month District

1--5 5--15 16-25 Can not Say

NR

Total No. of HH

District

1--5 5--15 16-25 26-35 36-54 NR

Dhar 18 11 0 0 42 80 Dhar 0 0 0 80 0 0 Dindori 0 55 11 0 0 66 Dindori 1 34 28 0 0 3 Jhabua 40 2 0 1 29 80 Jhabua 1 0 2 75 1 1 Khandwa 43 34 0 0 2 79 Khandwa 1 1 31 44 0 2 Mandla 0 98 1 0 0 99 Mandla 0 1 98 0 0 0 Seoni 0 71 5 0 1 78 Seoni 0 35 42 0 0 1 Shivpuri 83 4 0 0 6 93 Shivpuri 0 0 0 93 0 0 Total 184 275 17 1 80 575 Total 3 71 201 292 1 7 Percentage 32 47.8 3.0 0.2 17 100 Percentage 0.5 12.3 35.0 50.8 0.2 1.2 Data in table is presented absolute number of HH Data in table is presented absolute number of HH Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004 Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004

Around 80 percent families require wheat between the ranges of 16 kilogram to 35 kilogram per month. 100 percent AAY families of Dhar and Shivpuri, 93.75 percent families of Jhabua and 55.69 percent AAY families require wheat between a range of 26 to 35 kilogram per month.

35

2.1.1. Requirement of Kerosene and Sugar Kerosene has become an important commodity of daily consumption in rural households. Around 52.7 percent AAY households require kerosene up to 5 litres per month. Around 40.2 percent AAY households require kerosene between 5 to 15 litres per month. Majority of the households of Shivpuri, Khandwa, Mandla and Seoni need kerosene between 1 to 5 litres per months. Households of Jhabua, Dhar and Dindori need kerosene between 5 to 15 litres per month. This shows the dependency of households on kerosene which is primarily used for lighting of houses in evening and night. During our interaction with people in villages they told us that most of them do not purchases Sugar from FPS because the price of sugar at FPS is higher than the market price. This qualitative statement is verified through the data collected for the study. 54.8 percent respondents have not responded on this question and another 0.2 percent respondents said that they can not say about their monthly requirement of sugar. Sugar is purchased from local market and is primarily used for tea only. More than 50 percent households from Jhabua, Khandwa and Mandla said that they require 1 to 5 kilogram sugar per month. Overall 36.3 percent households said that they require 1 to 5 kilogram sugar per month.

2.2.Requirement among BPL Families The data on requirement of foodgrain makes it very clear that average household requirement is much more than 35 kilogram per month per household. This is evident from the data of all the section of cardholders. 55.9 percent of the cardholders, from BPL category need 16 to 25 kilogram wheat per month per household. More than 50 percent cardholders of Dindori, Jhabua and Mandla require around 16 to 25 kilograms wheat per month per household. Around 20.98 percent, of BPL cardholders, require 26 to 35 kilogram wheat per month per household. More than 30 percent cardholders of Dhar, Jhabua and Khandwa require 26 to 35 kilogram wheat per month per household. Less than one percent cardholders require 1 to 5 kilogram wheat per month.

Table: Monthly Requirement of Kerosene for AAY families

Requirement in Litre per month District 1--5 5--15 NR Cannot

Say Total

Dhar 12 47 11 5 80 Dindori 19 47 0 0 66 Jhabua 1 75 0 2 80 Khandwa 48 23 7 0 79 Mandla 96 3 0 0 99 Seoni 43 33 2 0 78 Shivpuri 84 3 2 0 93 Total 303 231 22 7 575 Percentage 52.7 40.2 5.9 1.2 100 % Data in table is presented absolute number of HH Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004

Table: Monthly Requirement of Sugar for AAY families

Requirement in Kilogram per month District 1--5 5--15 16-25 NR Cannot

Say Total

Dhar 17 6 0 48 0 80 Dindori 2 24 0 26 0 66 Jhabua 44 8 1 17 1 80 Khandwa 52 2 0 25 0 79 Mandla 59 1 0 20 0 99 Seoni 35 8 0 34 0 78 Shivpuri 0 0 0 93 0 93 Total 209 49 1 263 1 575 Percentage 36.3 8.5 0.2 54.8 0.2 100 % Data in table is presented absolute number of HH Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004

36

Table: Monthly Requirement of Wheat for BPL families Table: Monthly Requirement of Rice for BPL families District 1--5 5--15 16-25 26-35 36-54 NR

Total No. of HH

District 1--5 5--15 16-25 26-35 36-54 NR

Dhar 0 1 62 94 0 3 160 Dhar 20 53 0 0 0 87 Dindori 0 36 113 0 1 11 161 Dindori 0 52 98 5 5 1 Jhabua 2 2 114 78 0 17 213 Jhabua 26 131 1 0 0 55 Khandwa 2 6 82 60 0 15 165 Khandwa 84 56 1 1 0 23 Mandla 0 12 148 0 0 4 164 Mandla 0 151 9 0 0 4 Seoni 0 68 71 0 0 22 161 Seoni 1 120 19 1 0 20 Shivpuri 0 0 36 2 0 58 96 Shivpuri 10 26 0 0 0 60 Total 4 125 626 234 1 130 1120 Total 141 589 128 7 5 250 Percentage 0.36 11.16 55.9 20.89 0.09 11.61 100 Percentage 12.59 52.57 11.43 0.62 0.45 22.3 Data in table is presented absolute number of HH; Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004

Among the BPL category the demand of rice is comparatively more in Jhabua, Mandla and Seoni than the demand of rice in other study districts. Around 12.59 percent cardholders require 1 to 5 kilogram rice per month. More than 50 percent cardholders of Khandwa fall within this category. Fifty two point five seven percent (52.57 %) cardholders require 5 to 15 kilogram rice per month. Around 11.43 percent cardholders require around 16 to 25 kilogram rice per month. Only 0.62 percent cardholders require around 26 to 35 kilogram rice per month. From the data it emerges that demand of wheat is more than the demand of rice in almost all the districts. 2.2.1. Requirement of Kerosene and Sugar Majority of the BPL household require kerosene which is primarily used for light in the evening and night. Some families informed that kerosene is also used for preparing tea for guests. Around 35.5 percent cardholders require 1 to 5 litres per month. More than 90 percent BPL cardholders of Mandla fall under this category. Around 55.8 percent cardholders require 5-15 litres of kerosene per month. More than 50 percent cardholders of Dhar, Dindori and Jhabua fall under this category. More than 35 percent cardholders of Khandwa, Seoni and Shivpuri also fall under this category. During focussed group discussion with BPL cardholders they informed us that the price of sugar at FPS is often more than the market price so people do not go to the FPS for the purchase of sugar. 45.27 percent of the BPL cardholders require 1 to 5 kilogram sugar per month. 37.5 percent cardholders not responded on this question. 16.88 percent cardholders

Table: Monthly Requirement of Kerosene for BPL families District 1--5 5--15 NR Total

No. of HH Dhar 10 130 20 160 Dindori 45 115 1 161 Jhabua 9 199 5 213 Khandwa 82 64 19 165 Mandla 154 6 4 164 Seoni 81 75 5 161 Shivpuri 17 36 43 96 Total 398 625 97 1120 Percentage 35.5 55.8 8.7 100 Data in table is presented absolute number of HH Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004

Table: Monthly Requirement of Sugar for BPL families

District 1--5 5--15

16-25 26-35

NR Cannot Say

Total No. of HH

Dhar 58 29 0 0 73 0 160 Dindori 25 84 0 0 52 0 161 Jhabua 134 26 0 1 51 1 213 Khandwa 103 13 0 0 48 1 165 Mandla 112 2 0 0 50 0 164 Seoni 75 35 1 0 50 0 161 Shivpuri 0 0 0 0 96 0 96 Total 507 189 1 1 420 2 1120 Percentage 45.27 16.88 0.09 0.09 37.50 0.18 100 Data in table is presented absolute number of HH Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004

37

informed that they require 5 to 15 kilogram sugar per month. Many of these respondents told that they do not purchase the required quantity from the FPS. 2.3.Requirement among APL Families It is evident from the data that majority of the APL cardholders are not interested in purchasing rice and wheat from the FPS. Around 66.5 percent cardholder gave no response on the issue of monthly requirement of wheat for their domestic consumption. 10.8 percent cardholder said that they require 5 to 15 kilogram wheat per month from FPS. 13 percent cardholders said that they require around 16 to 25 kilogram per month and around 9.3 percent cardholder informed that they require 26 to 35 kilogram per month. 69.52 percent cardholders did not give any response on the issue of requirement of rice from FPS. 26.77 percent cardholder require 5 to 25 kilogram per month per household. Only 0.37 percent cardholders need 26 to 35 kilogram rice per month. In district Dindori 6 respondents said that they require 36 to 54 kilogram rice per month. Table: Monthly Requirement of Wheat for APL families Table: Monthly Requirement of Rice for APL families

Requirement in Kilogram per month District Requirement in Kilogram per month District

1--5 5--15 16-25 26-35 NR

Total No. of HH 1--5 5—15 16-25 26-35 36-54 NR

Dhar 1 0 0 24 15 40 Dhar 2 8 0 0 0 30 Dindori 0 17 11 0 14 42 Dindori 0 10 18 1 6 7 Jhabua 0 0 0 0 1 1 Jhabua 0 0 0 0 0 1 Khandwa 0 2 1 1 38 42 Khandwa 1 3 0 0 0 38 Mandla 0 6 10 0 0 16 Mandla 0 14 2 0 0 0 Seoni 0 4 13 0 22 39 Seoni 0 9 8 0 0 22 Shivpuri 0 0 0 0 89 89 Shivpuri 0 0 0 0 0 89 Total 1 29 35 25 179 269 Total 3 44 28 1 6 187 Percentage 0.4 10.8 13.0 9.3 66.5 100 Percentage 1.12 16.36 10.41 0.37 2.23 69.52 Data in table is presented absolute number of HH Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004

2.3.1. Requirement of Kerosene and Sugar Kerosene is primarily used for evening light and as fuel for preparing tea for guests. This was told by BPL and APL cardholders. The AAY families did not share this view. They, AAY, informed us that they need kerosene for light but it is very difficult to get allotted quantity from FPS. More than 29.74 percent APL cardholders did not respond on the issue of requirement of kerosene from FPS. Around 47.58 percent cardholders said that they require 5 to 15 litres of kerosene oil per month. 22.68 percent card holder said that they require 1 to 5 litre kerosene oil per month. In APL families the sugar is needed for family ceremonies like marriage and birth celebrations. 78.07 percent APL cardholder decided not to respond on the issue of requirement of sugar from FPS. 12.77 percent cardholders informed that they require 5 to 15 kilogram sugar per month. 9.3 percent cardholders said that they require 1 to 5 kilogram sugar per month from FPS.

38

Table: Monthly Requirement of Sugar for APL families

Table: Monthly Requirement of Kerosene for APL families

Requirement in Kilogram per month Requirement in Litre per month District

1--5 5--15 NR Total APL Respondents

District

1--5 5--15 NR Total APL Respondents

Dhar 3 6 31 40 Dhar 4 20 16 40 Dindori 6 14 22 42 Dindori 19 20 3 42 Jhabua 0 0 1 1 Jhabua 0 0 1 1 Khandwa 2 1 39 42 Khandwa 11 27 4 42 Mandla 8 1 7 16 Mandla 16 0 0 16 Seoni 7 11 21 39 Seoni 10 15 14 39 Shivpuri 0 0 89 89 Shivpuri 1 46 42 89 Total 26 33 210 269 Total 61 128 80 269 Percentage 9.67 12.27 78.07 100 Percentage 22.68 47.58 29.74 100 Source: Analysis of Field Data of PDS study, 2004

3. Difficult period in terms of food availability The study analysed the situation of supply and need of the food grain in the villages. It emerges from the data that the season of cultivation and harvest are the better season for rural families as far as availability of food grain is concerned. Hence the availability of food and work depends on the status of agriculture. The focussed group discussion with the Sahariya tribe, in district Shivpuri revealed that worse period begins as early as from December – January it self. This highlights the status of the tribe their access to the land and the status of agriculture among the Sahariya tribes.

Table 4.3 Status of food availability in the villages covered under the study

District Sufficient food Need to get additional food grain from other sources

Acute deficiency

No Food Irrigation

Shivpuri October- November July-September April to June December – March

Depends on rains

Jhabua October - December January-March April to September

No such Period Partially mechanised

Dhar $ April – May $ November – December

October January, June -July

February-March, August September

Depends on rains

Khandwa January-March October - December April to June July-September Depends on rains

Seoni October - December January-March April to September


Mandla October - December January-March April to September


Dindori $ In some villages October to December $ In some villages November to December

$ February, September and October $ March-April, September-October

$ June to September $ June to August

$ March – April $ May – June

Partially mechanised


39

The table makes it clear that period of October to December is the best as far as availability of food grain is concerned. This is the time of harvest and new crop also. The Kharif crop is the primary sources of food grain supply because majority of the places the agriculture is single cropped and rain fed.

Situation in places like Jhabua, Seoni, Mandla and Dindori is better because the farmers here have alternative sources of irrigation which is also partially mechanised. These places offer an opportunity of getting more food grains either from own production or from earning through wages. Now it is important for the PDS system to prepare for the worse of period that begins from February and is extended till the end of October or the beginning of November.

3.1. Migration The most difficult period for the rural people is the period of migration. During the period of migration the sources of getting the food grain change and landlord (the wage provider) and the open market become the major source of supply of the food grain. The period, of migration, is difficult because it does not provide the opportunity of getting subsidised food grains or other essential commodities from FPS. The system of PDS is for permanent resident and not for labourers migrating from out side for a shorter duration.

The table SA-4 show that the place of migration is far from the home of the people and the duration is also very long. In all the cases the duration is not less than 3-4 month. This means that people are unable to access the PDS system nearly for one-third part of the year.

Table 4.4 Place and duration of migration in the study area

District Place Time Duration

Who Migrates Work as

Shivpuri Gwalior 3-4 months Jhabua Malwa and Rajasthan 3-4 months Dhar Malwa, Bhopal region

and Maharashtra 3-4 months

Khandwa Malwa 3-4 months Seoni Nagpur, Jabalpur 3-4 months Mandla Raipur, Mandla Town,

Jabalpur 3-4 months

Dindori Jabalpur, Mandla, Chhattisgarh and Proper Dindori

3-4 months

− Landless labourers

− Small and marginal farmers

− Farmers in general if there is poor rain

− Farmers, during second crop, who have no or poor irrigation facilities

− Agricultural Labourer, Construction Worker both in Government and in Private Sector

− In Rajasthan people also work in stone mines

− Within District they prefer to work as agricultural labourer.


30

Chapter - 8 Perception of People on functioning of Fair Price Shop This chapter has been prepared by analysing the responses of the cardholders. These responses are about their own level of awareness, about the timing and prices offered by the FPS and quality and quantity that are obtained on the cards. The present chapter has made an attempt to captures the opinion of the respondents on the functioning of the FPS. Months when food grains from FPS are required most

According to the majority of the respondents the i.e. 51.6percent the time period when which food grains from FPS are required is may to July. In this category most of the respondents are from the district Dhar and Dindori. The lowest percentage of the respondents is from the district Shivpuri. This the period when the stocks are drained and there is need of food grains .The situations in the area where one crop is difficult as the area suffers crises. As evident in Shivpuri also the period of Feb. to march is difficult. The availability of work is low and near by march, April harvesting starts and that the peak time when food stocks are empty and other source are The next majority 17.8 percent is in the time period from August to October .The highest percentage of the respondents in this time period is from district Mandla (51.8).

Table 7.18 Period of food grains required+ most from FPS November

To January February to April

May to July August to October

Other No Response

Dhar 9 6 228 1 22 14

Dindori 0 1 266 0 1 1

Jhabua 34 50 150 39 21 0

Khandwa 16 18 118 44 63 31

Mandla 1 1 42 182 52 1

Seoni 16 4 209 34 6 9

Shivpuri 4 191 3 51 31 0

Total 80 271 1016 351 196 56

4.06 13.8 51.6 17.8 9.95 2.84

31

Benefit of System in Terms of Fulfilling the Requirement

7.9 Opinion on fulfilment of requirement of food grains by Fair Price Shops. District

Fulf

ils th

e R

equi

rem

ent o

f Fo

od fo

r th

e W

hole

Yea

r

Fulf

ils th

e R

equi

rem

ent o

f Fo

od fo

r ab

out 6

- 9

Mon

ths

Fulf

ils th

e R

equi

rem

ent o

f Fo

od fo

r ab

out 3

- 6

Mon

ths

Fulf

ils th

e R

equi

rem

ent o

f Fo

od fo

r A

bout

1 -

3 M

onth

s

Som

e ti

mes

Do

Not

Use

Thi

s Fa

cilit

y

No

resp

onse

PDS

Syst

em N

ot u

sefu

l

Tot

al

Dhar 8.24 33.62 6.69 14.86 16.03 31.48 2.33 4.55 280 Dindori 1.65 11.91 22.18 12.86 8.33 5.56 4.65 0.00 269 Jhabua 1.10 10.64 12.27 45.43 3.53 5.56 6.98 0.00 294 Khandwa 53.85 17.02 9.34 3.14 11.22 5.56 76.74 0.00 290 Mandla 31.32 3.40 21.34 1.71 16.03 2.78 2.33 0.00 279 Seoni 3.30 22.13 19.67 7.14 9.94 19.44 4.65 0.00 278 Shivpuri 0.55 1.28 8.51 14.86 34.94 29.63 2.33 95.45 280 Total 182 235 717 350 312 108 43 22 1970

9.2 11.93 36.4 17.8 15.8 5.4 2.81 1.12 100

Around 9.2 percent cardholders say that the quantity of food, available through the FPS fulfils their requirements throughout the year and they do not go to any other sources. It is interesting to note that in this category about 53% respondents from khandwa district and 33% are from Mandla while a significant minority 0.5 percent are from Shivpuri district. Around 11.93 percent of the total cardholders say that food grains available through the PDS system is able to fulfil their need only for a period of 6 to 9 months. Most of the people (33% and 22%) who have responded in this category are from district Dhar and Seoni respectively. 36.4 percent cardholders find the food grains useful for a limited period of 3-6 months. 17.8 percent cardholders find the food grains useful for a period of 1-3 months. 15.8 percent cardholders say that they have to depend on sources other then PDS system for their need of food grains. The PDS system is useful for a very limited period of time. 5.4 percent cardholders have said that they do not use the card at all.

Table 7.10 Card Category wise Opinion of respondents on fulfilment of food grain requirement by Fair Price shops Fulfil fills Food Requirement Poverty Line Antyodaya

Scheme Above Poverty Line

Total

Whole Year 7.1 16.9 1.1 9.2 About 6 - 9 Months 11.0 18.6 1.9 11.93

32

About 3 - 6 Months 38.5 44.9 10.0 36.4 About 1 - 3 Months 22.3 15.1 4.8 17.8 Sometimes 13.8 1.0 55.8 15.8 Do Not Use This Facility 3.4 0.9 23.8 5.4 Not at all beneficial 1.6 0.5 0.4 1.1 No Response 2.2 2.1 2.2 2.2

In the category of cards, Most of the respondents (38.5% BPL cardholders and 45% AAY cardholders) are of opinion that the PDS helps them to fulfil their requirement for three to six months. While about 14 percent BPL cardholders are of opinion that it seldom helps them. This situation is quite alarming as most of the respondents do not find stock or they are not give food grains as required. It is also interesting to note that the dependency of the APL card holders on the system is very limited as it is evident from the table that more than 55% respondents from this category use it sometimes and more that 23% do not use this facility. A very small percentage of respondents from all the three categories have opined that the PDS helps to fulfil their requirement for the whole year. Lending the Cards to Other families Around 82 percent card owners do not share their card with other families of the village.13 percent card owners at times give their card to others, while 3.4 percent of the cardholder regularly give their card to others. If we look at trend of lending cards on occasion’s district wise, most (39%) respondents in Jhabua lend their cards, the next majority (19%) is in district Mandla. If we look at the trend in card categories in all the three categories of APL, BPL and AAY most of the representatives do not lend their cards. It is interesting to note that about 1.37 percent respondents have chosed not answer the question; the maximum respondents (26%) in this category are from District Seoni. Families other than the real owner of the card use the ration card. This depends on the relationship of the card owner with the family using the card. During individual discussion it was said that in case of urgent requirement during social ceremony or on occasions people use each other’s card. The cards are sometimes are also used when the holder is not in village and migrate for longer duration from his/her place.

Table 7.8 lend cards to other family for use

Yes NO Some Times

No response

Dhar 6 247 21 6 280

% 9.09 15.25 8.17 22.22 14.21

Dindori 1 254 12 2 269

% 1.52 15.68 4.67 7.41 13.65

Jhabua 20 170 100 4 294

% 30.30 10.49 38.91 14.81 14.92

Khandwa 13 239 33 5 290

% 19.70 14.75 12.84 18.52 14.72

Mandla 1 228 49 1 279

% 1.52 14.07 19.07 3.70 14.16

Seoni 20 233 18 7 278

% 30.30 14.38 7.00 25.93 14.11

Shivpuri 5 249 24 2 280

% 7.58 15.37 9.34 7.41 14.21

Total 66 1620 257 27 1970

3.35 82.23 13.05 1.37

30

Chapter – 9 Price and Purchase of Commodities Price of foodgrains and other commodities like Sugar at FPS is important. This is important because if prices are lower than the open market than people will come to purchase commodities from FPS. Hence price is the single most important factor that determines the utility value of the FPS. Cardholders judged the access and utility of Fair Price Shop on the basis of prices of food grains and other commodities from FPS. It is important to note that the FPS has a monopoly in the case of Kerosene because it is sold only on Fair Price Shops. Hence the cardholders have very limited options vis-à-vis Kerosene. In this chapter we have looked into the issue of rate of purchase of commodities at FPS. We have also looked into the issue of purchase of commodities from FPS by the cardholders. Rate of Food grains The rate, of the commodities, is an important indicator that helps in assessing the functioning of FPS and PDS system. The study has collected the response of cardholders for rate of five important commodities distributed through PDS system. The rates for all cardholders category have been analysed and presented below.

Table 7.4 Rate of Food grains R a t e o f P u r c h a s e ( R u p e e s P e r K i l o g r a m )

Purchase Rates of the commodities mentioned by respondents

Com

mod

itie

s

Do

not

Purc

hase

Do

not

Kno

w

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 More than Rs 9

Rice 46 (2.3)

168 (8.5)

0 (0)

7 (0.4)

445 (22.6)

3 (0.2)

6 (0.3)

124 (6.3)

788 (40)

26 (1.3)

26 (1.3)

331 (16.8)

Wheat 60 (3)

84 (4.3)

1 (0.1)

574 (29.1)

4 (0.2)

2 (0.1)

981 (49.8)

52 (2.6)

50 (2.5)

12 (0.6)

1 (0.1)

149 (7.6)

Sugar 98 (5)

209 (10.6)

0 (0)

3 (0.2)

1 (0.1)

2 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

0 (0)

2 (0.1)

1653 (83.9)

Kerosene 26 (1.3)

35 (1.8)

4 (0.2)

1 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

4 (0.2)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

508 (25.8)

1390 (70.6)

Other 73 (3.7)

39 (2)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

1855 (94.2)

(i) Rice 40 percent respondents said that they purchase rice at the rate of Rs. 7.00 per Kilogram. 22.6 percent respondents said that they purchase rice at the rate of Rs. 3.00 per Kilogram. Around 16.8 percent respondents mentioned that they pay a price, which is more than Rs. 9.00 per Kilogram. (ii) Wheat The aggregated data show that around 49.8 percent of the total respondent purchase Wheat at RS. 6.00 Per kilogram. This means that the price sytem is manipulated because the price of Wheat is either Rs. 2.00, 5.00 or 7.00. It would be interesting to see the responses of cardholder according to their categories. Around 29 percent cardholders

31

purchase the wheat at the rate of Rs. 2.00 per kilogram. This matches with the Rate of AAY and their size in the sample. (iii) Sugar Majority of the respondents purchase sugar on a rate, which is more than Rs. 9.00 per kilograms. (iv) Kerosene Around 25.8 percent respondents say that they get kerosene at a rate of Rs. 9.00 per litre. Around 60 percent cardholders get kerosene on a rate, which is higher than Rs. 9.00 per litre. Very limited cardholder purchase other item like cloths, soaps etc. from FPS. Antyodaya Table 7.5 Rate of Commodities - Antyodaya

Rate of Purchase (Rupees Per Kilogram)

Com

mod

ity

Do

not

purc

hase

Do

not

Kno

w

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 More than Rs 9

Rice 7 (1.2)

34 (5.9)

0 (0)

7 (1.2)

437 (76)

3 (0.5)

5 (0.9)

13 (2.3)

20 (3.5)

4 (0.7)

0 (0)

45 (7.8)

Wheat 0 (0.0)

1 (0.2)

1 (0.2)

564 (98.1)

2 (0.3)

0 (0)

5 (0.9)

1 (0.2)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0.2)

1 (0.2)

Sugar 33 (5.7)

56 (9.7)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

2 (0.3)

484 (84.2)

Kerosene 2 (0.3)

8 (1.4)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

2 (0.3)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

162 (28.2)

401 (69.7)

Other 42 (7.3)

10 (1.7)

0 (0)

1 (0.2)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

522 (90.8)

(v) Rice 76 percent respondents, of the total AAY respondents, said that they purchase rice at the rate of Rs. 3.00 per Kilogram. Around 5.9 percent respondents, of total AAY respondents, said that they purchase rice at the rate of Rs. 3.00 per Kilogram. Around 16.8 percent respondents mentioned that they pay a price, which is more than Rs. 9.00 per Kilogram. (vi) Wheat 98.1 percent cardholders get wheat at the price of Rs. 2.00 per kilogram. Around 0.9 percent cardholders get wheat at a rate of Rs. 5.00 per kilogram.

32

Below Poverty Line Table 7.5 Rate of Commodities - BPL

Rate of Purchase (Rupees Per Kilogram)

Com

mod

ity

Do

not

purc

hase

Do

not

Kno

w

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 More than Rs 9

Rice 9 (0.8)

79 (7.1)

0 (0)

0 (0)

6 (0.5)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

110 (9.8)

744 (66.4)

14 (1.3)

9 (0.8)

148 (13.2)

Wheat 16 (1.4)

35 (3.1)

0 (0)

8 (0.7)

2 (0.2)

2 (0.2)

960 (85.7)

30 (2.7)

1 (0.1)

0 (0)

0 (0)

66 (5.9)

Sugar 26 (2.2)

99 (8.8)

0 (0)

3 (0.3)

1 (0.1)

2 (0.2)

0 (0)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

0 (0)

0 (0)

988 (88.2)

Kerosene 4 (0.4)

15 (1.3)

2 (0.2)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

2 (0.2)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

324 (28.9)

771 (68.8)

Other 2 (0.2)

21 (1.9)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

1 (0.1)

1 (0.1)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0)

0 (0) 1095 (97.8)

(i) Rice Within the category of BPL cardholders 66.4 percent cardholder said that they get rice at a price of Rs. 7.00 per kilogram. Around 9.8 percent cardholders said that they get rice at the rate of Rs. 6.00 per kilogram. A large section, around 7.1 percent of the total BPL cardholders said that they do not know the rate of rice at FPS shop. (ii) Wheat 85.7 percent of the total BPL cardholders said that they get wheat at Rs. 5.00 per kilogram. Around 3.1 percent of the total BPL cardholders said that they do not know the rate of rice at FPS shop and around 1.4 percent of the total BPL cardholders said that they do not purchase rice from FPS shop Kerosene is item, other than wheat and rich, which is purchased by a large section of cardholders. Around 28.9 percent BPL cardholder said that they get Kerosene at the rate of Rs. 9 per kilogram. Above Poverty Line

Table 7.7 Rate of Commodities - APL %�&�')(+*�,.-�/ 021435&�67(�8�%�/�9�(�(�6:-5(�0�;�< =�>5?A@CB D+E�F

G HIJKL

MN O P QRRQST UV

W XYXZ[ \]^_ àb

c dedfg edh i j k l m n o p q

More than Rs 9

r�s t�u v�wx2yzy�{ |~} ��x�|~�7{�y�} � x��~} � x��~} � x��~} � x��~} � x��~} � x��z} |~�x��{ �z} � x��{ �z} y)�x��7{ |~��} y��~�x � ��{ �z}��7�� ~��2��7� �� 2� � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � � �� z¡�2�¢ �� £ � �� ¤ ¥�¦�§�¨ ©�ª«2¬¢�® ¯~° ¯7¬«2¬ ª ® ±z° ± «�±²° ±«�±z° ±«�±~° ± «�±~° ¬«�±7® �° ±«�±z° ±«�±~° ± «�±~° ± «�±~° ¬)³~´«�µ~µ�® ¶�°·�¸�¹�º�»�¸ ¼�½ ¾�¼ ¼ ¾ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ½ ¼�½ ¼7¾¢¿

33

À�Á Â�Ã�Ä Å�Æ ÂÇÅ4Ä È~Æ Â�É7Ä ÃzÆ Â�É7Ä Å�Æ Â�É~Æ Â�É~Æ Â�É~Æ Â�É~Æ Â�É~Æ Â�É~Æ Â�Ã7Ä Å�Æ Â�Ã�Ê�Ä Ë~ÆÌÎÍCÏ�Ð�Ñ Ò�ÓÔ2Õ�Ö7× Ø�Ù Ó Ô�Ú7× Ö~Ù Ö Ô�Ö~Ù Ö Ô�ÖzÙ ÖÔ�Ö~Ù Ö Ô�Ö~Ù Ö Ô�Ö~Ù Ö Ô�Ö~Ù Ö Ô�Ö~Ù Ö Ô�Ö~Ù Ö Ô�Ö~Ù Ò ÚzÚÔ ÓzÛ × Û Ù (i) Rice Around 11 percent APL cardholders do not purchase rice from FPS. 20 percent, of APL cardholders do not know the price of rice at FPS. Around 8.6 percent, of the total APL cardholders said that they get rice at the rate of Rs. 7.00 per kilogram. (ii) Wheat Around 16.4 percent APL cardholders do not purchase rice from FPS and around 17.4 percent, of APL cardholders do not know the price of rice at FPS. Around 18.2 percent, of the total APL cardholders said that they get wheat at the rate of Rs. 7.00 per kilogram and around 7.8 percent cardholders said that they purchase wheat at the rate of Rs. 6.00 per kilogram. The rate of purchase of sugar, mentioned by the cardholders, show that a large section of respondents do not purchase the Sugar from FPS. The kerosene is not made available to the cardholders and this is confirmed by the detailed case studies also. Purchase of Commodities from FPS Around 69.3 percent cardholders take essential commodities from the FPS. 10.4 percent cardholders informed that they do not go to the FPS shop for the purchase of food grains and other commodities. 17 percent cardholders mentioned that they are not regular users of the FPS but they do purchase items sometimes from the shop. It interesting to note that maximum number of respondents in district Khandwa takes ration among the total respondents. While those who sometimes take ration, district Jhabua shows the highest number of respondents who sometimes take ration from FPS. Maximum respondents (93%in the category of Antyodaya scheme and 65%in the category of BPL) take ration from FPS on their own card while around 38 percent cardholders of the APL category do not take ration from FPS.

Table 7. 3 Take commodities from Fair Price shops Name of the district

Yes No Sometimes No response

Dhar 181(13.30) 37 (18.10) 58 (17.30) 4(6.20)

Dindori 218 (16) 23 (11.3) 24 (7.20) 4(6.20)

Jhabua 184 (13.5) 5 (205) 95 (28.4) 10(15.4)

Khandwa 248 (18.2) 11 (5.4) 18 (5.4) 13(20)

Mandla 172 (12.6) 10 (4.90) 83 (24.8) 14(21.5)

Seoni 203 (14.9) 24 (11.8) 35 (10.4) 16(24.6)

Shivpuri 160 (11.7) 94 (46.1) 22 (6.60) 4(6.20)

Total 1366 (69.3) 204 (10.4) 335 (17.0) 65(3.3)

30

Chapter – 10 Information and Awareness This chapter looks into the issues related to availability of information among the beneficiaries of TPDS. The entire system of TPDS is divided into two sides that is demand and supply. Theoretically the supply is determined on the basis of number of households under the each category of AAY, BPL and APL. The demand side depends on consumers. Consumer can demand if they have proper information and awareness regarding system of TPDS, prices and quantity of commodities and regarding rules regulating the FPS. We have collected response of beneficiaries about awareness regarding availability of foodgrains on cheaper prices, for AAY and BPL, about rules and regulation of FPS, about sources of information on PDS and about behaviour of FPS operator. The analyses of responses are presented below. 10.1. Awareness about Commodities and their Prices 87.5 percent respondents were aware that the FPS provides food grains on cheaper rates to families below poverty line. The awareness level in most of the district is same as most of the respondents are in range of 13to 15 percent. 12.44 percent respondents were not aware about the fact that food grains are available on cheaper rates Most of the respondents (41%) in Jhabua are not aware. If we analyse the status of awareness according to the category of cardholders about 93% respondents within the category of Antyodaya scheme 87% within the category of APL and 84% in the category of BPL are aware about the availability of cheaper rates of commodities available at fair Price shops under the PDS system. 10.2. Information about stock and price of commodities at FPS Most of the respondents (65 percent) said that they do not get information about PDS. Among them the majority of respondents come from district Shivpuri (20.7 percent of total respondents not getting information) and Mandla (18.3 percent of the total respondents not getting information about PDS). About 12 percent, of the total respondents covered under the study, opined that they get information related to PDS and most of the respondents within this category are from district Dhar and Jhabua. It was

Table 7.2 Awareness regarding commodities available in cheaper rates District Yes Ü�Ý No

Response Dhar 270(15.6) 4(2.2) 6(9.5) Dindori 258(14.96) 7(3.85) 4(6.35) Jhabua 209(12.1) 75(41.2) 10(15.8) Khandwa 245(14.2) 29(15.9) 16(25.6) Mandla 226(13.1) 41(22.5) 12(19.5) Seoni 254(14.7) 11(6.04) 13(20.63) Shivpuri 263(15.2) 15(8.24) 2(3.17) Total 1725(87.5) 182(9.42) 63(3.2) Table: IA-1, Source: PDS study 2004

Table 7.24 Availability of Information about FPS District Yes No Not Regularly No response Dhar 27.6 16.0 0.5 2.1 Dindori 10.3 17.4 0.0 7.9 Jhabua 27.2 8.0 63.4 0.4 Khandwa 4.1 4.2 35.6 65.1 Mandla 9.1 18.3 0.5 8.3 Seoni 17.7 15.3 0.0 15.4 Shivpuri 4.1 20.7 0.0 0.8 Total 12.3 65.6 9.8 12.2 Table: IA-2, Source: PDS study 2004

31

interesting to note that most of the respondents (154 respondents out of 294,) from District Khandwa have not responded to this question. 10.3. Source of information Around 42 percent respondents, out of the 12 percent respondents who get information about PDS, said that they get information from different sources like Panchayat representatives, their neighbours and friends etc. Data suggests that these different sources are important link, in providing information to people in district Jhabua, Khandwa, Seoni and Mandla. About 37 percent respondents said that they get information from other villagers during informal discussions among the community groups. Data informs that the informal discussion, at village level play key role in providing information in Dhar, Shivpuri and Mandla. 16 percent respondents, out of 12 percent respondents, are of opinion that they get information from the FPS seller or the FPS agent. Data suggests that the FPS seller plays an important role in providing information to the people in Dindori, Shivpuri and Dhar. 10.3. Reaction of Seller /Agent on demanding Information Most of the respondents 39 percent opined that the shopkeeper says they should be concerned with lifting of commodities and not other the shopkeepers themselves are not aware and say that the society officials do not share with him. In this category most of the respondents said that they were hesitated in asking information to the shopkeeper. About 24 percent said that that the shopkeeper or society owners want to know the reasons form respondents what they will do after getting information. . About

Table 7.25 Source of Information about PDS District

Rat

ion

Sho

p S

elle

r / A

gent

Pan

chay

at

Sec

reta

ry

Kot

war

Dis

cuss

ion

in th

e V

illag

e

Oth

er

Can

't S

ay

Dhar 17.3 4.8 23.1 28.0 0.8 14.6

Dindori 39.0 33.3 53.8 6.0 8.8 25.0

Jhabua 0.3 4.8 7.7 3.7 31.7 2.1

Khandwa 0.0 14.3 0.0 9.7 24.8 20.8

Mandla 5.9 0.0 0.0 20.8 12.5 6.3

Seoni 13.9 9.5 7.7 9.0 18.1 29.2

Shivpuri 23.5 33.3 7.7 22.9 3.3 2.1

Total 16.4 1.1 0.7 37.3 42.1 2.4 Table: IA-3, Source: PDS study 2004

Table 7.26 Reaction on demanding information related to PDS District

Wha

t Rig

ht D

o Y

ou H

ave

To

Ask

Thi

s

The

Inf

orm

atio

n Is

Con

fide

ntia

l

Rea

son

To

Kno

w

Thi

s In

form

atio

n

Mis

beha

ved

/ W

arne

d

Hel

pful

Rea

ctio

n

Oth

er

no r

espo

nse

Dhar 3.8 9.8 26.4 1.7 28.8 13.9 8.8 Dindori 2.8 4.9 7.0 0.0 3.8 31.7 1.4 Jhabua 4.2 2.4 5.0 7.6 31.8 29.3 3.4 Khandwa 0.5 4.9 0.0 0.0 1.5 4.6 58.1 Mandla 0.0 0.0 33.8 11.0 2.3 15.8 1.4 Seoni 11.3 29.3 15.8 52.5 26.5 4.6 26.4 Shivpuri 77.5 48.8 12.2 27.1 5.3 0.1 0.7 Total 11.8 2.3 24.7 6.6 7.3 39.1 8.2 Table: IA-4, Source: PDS study 2004

32

11 percent respondents said that they were told by the shopkeepers that they do not have right to ask any information. Conclusion The data received from villages suggest that situation about information and awareness is good in villages of study districts. If more than 80 percent population has information than the situation is certainly better. However it is necessary to note our observation vis-à-vis awareness among the people on PDS, prices of commodities for different commodities. We observed that majority of the people have very little access to accurate information about PDS and other related issues. When asked why they say that they have information and a good level of awareness their response was quick and clear that we do not want that our Sarpanch and Shopkeeper should face any trouble. Many shared experiences that if they say anything that goes against the shopkeeper then ultimately they would be punished because the action against them finally results into the closure of FPS. The data on other questions like information about stock make it vary clear that people have very little information about FPS and PDS. This finding further clarifies that in absence of important information community cannot exercise any control over FPS and TPDS. The sources of information to the people are informal in nature. Panchayat, FPS and Panchayat secretaries are not the main source of information and they need to be streamlined so that people get regular information about quantity allotted to their FPS, stock of FPS and issue price of commodities.

53

Chapter – 11 Problems and Complaints Complaint against Fair Price Shop In many places cardholders are satisfied with the functioning of Fair Price Shop and the over all percentage of satisfied cardholders is around 58.4 percent. Out of these 58 percent respondents, 57 percent are BPL, 29 percent are AAY and 12 percent are APL cardholders At the same time around 41.6 percent cardholders have complaints with the FPS. The maximum respondents are in district Shivpuri i.e. 98 percent. The next majority is in Jhabua i.e. 61 percent. The respondents from below poverty line are56perecnt, the respondents’ from AAY are 28 percent and the respondents from APL are 15 percent. These complaints are related to irregular timing, insufficient quantity and quality of food grain available to the cardholders, availability of essential commodities at the shop etc.

Table 7.12 Complaints against FPS

District Yes No Total

87 193 280 Dhar 31.07 68.93

42 225 267 Dindori 15.73 84.27

181 113 294 Jhabua 61.56 38.44

58 225 283 Khandwa 20.49 79.51

2 275 277 Mandla 0.72 99.28

108 169 277 Seoni 38.99 61.01

276 4 280 Shivpuri 98.57 1.43

815 1143 1958 Total 41.62 58.38

54

Registered complaints against Fair Price Shops To examine the trend we have compared the responses on question those who have complaints have registered complaints and it is evident from the table that most of the respondent who said that they have complaints, choose not to registered complaints against the shops. In the entire district most of the respondents have not registered their complaints. Only in district Dindori 60 percent out of 41 respondents who said they have complaints opt to register their complaints. Out of 98 percent of the respondents in Shivpuri district have decided not register their complaints and a very insignificant percentage of respondents have registered complaint 16 percent. In district Jhabua also out of 181 respondents only 8 percent respondents have registered their complaints. If we analyse within the category of the types of cardholders it is interesting to note that most of the respondents in all the three categories have not mentioned reported their complaints against the fair price shops.

Table 7.13 cross table showing whether respondents registered complaints

Registered complaints

District Have complaints

Yes No

Total

Yes 9(10.5) 77(89.5) 86(30.8)

No 0() 193(100) 193(69.2) Dhar Total 9 270 279

Dindori Yes 25(60.9) 16(39.0) 41(15.4)

No 0() 225(100) 225(84.5)

Total 25 241 266

Jhabua Yes 15(8.3) 166(91.7) 181(61.6)

No 0() 113(100) 113(38.4)

Total 15 279 294

Khandawa Yes 4(6.8) 54(93.1) 58(20.5)

No 0 225(100) 225(79.5)

Total 4 279 283

Mandala Yes 0 2(100) 2(0.7)

No 0 277(100) 277(99.2)

Total 0 279 279

Seoni Yes 26(15.4) 142(84.5) 168(60.8)

No 0 108(100) 108(39.1)

Total 26 250 276

Shivpuri Yes 45(16.3) 231(83.7) 276(98.5)

No 0() 4(100) 4(0.01)

Total 45 235 280

Yes 124(15.2) 688(84.7) 812(41.4) All district total No 0 1145 1145(58.5)

124 1833 1957

55

Place of registration of Complaints As it evident from table 7.12 in the entire cardholder category most of the respondents have registered their complaints at gram Panchayat level .The significant percent is at GP level in BPL category while in APL and AAY the complaints are registered at Gram Panchayat and Janpad Panchayat level also. In both categories complaints have also been taken to the block food officer. If we look at the district wise picture out of 104 respondents35% are in Shivpuri who have registered their complaints at different level and the highest number are at GP and ZP level. Out of total complaints 61% are at GP level, 7.6% are at janpad and block food officer level while 6 % are at the level of collector. It is interesting to note that the complaints at ZP level are13perecnt and only made in district Shivpuri Reasons for not registering the Complaints Attempt to analyse reason for not registering complaints were also done and respondents were asked if they have not registered complaints what are the reasons for the same. The responses that have been observed are presented in table 7.11

Most of the respondents 35.74 percent say that they not aware, what they can do in a situation where they have complaints with FPS. Twenty percent respondents feel that since there is no hearing of their complaints so they do not lodge any complaints. 7.77 percent cardholder them selves helpless in the situation of complaints. 24.82 percent people did not respond on this question as they did not have any reason for not registering complaints hence they chose not give any false excuse during discussion they said “ Yunhinahi shikayat ki or nahi ki.”

11 percent respondents mentioned that they thought that complaints would put them in conflict with the shopkeeper and the society that can put them in trouble and they might stop getting food grains that they are getting during difficult times.

Table 7.14 Complaints registered with the authorities

Pla

ce o

f C

ompl

aint

Po

vert

y Li

ne

Ant

yoda

ya S

chem

e

Abo

ve P

over

ty L

ine

Panchayat 72 43.3 62.5 Janpad Panchayat 6 3.3 16.7 Block Food Officer 2 33.3 12.5 District Panchayat 8 10 4.2 District Food Officer 2 3.3 0.0 Collector 8 6.7 4.2 State Level 2 0 0.0

Table 7.15 Reason for not registering complaints

No

Hea

ring

Don

't K

now

W

hat

To

Do

No

bod

y H

elp

s

Oth

er

No

Res

pon

se

Dhar 8.0 8.1 6.5 3.1 35.58

Dindori 23.6 17.6 24.2 3.5 1.23

Jhabua 16.1 14.9 9.2 46.9 1.28

Khandwa 5.8 6.5 3.9 10.6 48.97

Mandla 0.0 29.4 23.5 15.9 0.00

Seoni 18.3 8.4 17.6 17.3 16.36

Shivpuri 28.1 15.1 15.0 2.7 8.46

Total 20.20 35.74 7.77 11.47 24.82

56

Reasons of not purchasing foodgrains from FPS Many people, in the villages, are not satisfied with the functioning of ration shop due to the variety of reasons. As a result quiet often they do not go the FPS. If they receive information about availability of good quality foodgrain then they go to the shop but the behaviour and attitude of the shopkeeper plays an important role. The behaviour of shopkeeper has many dimensions like misbehaviour with the cardholders of poorer community, giving poor quality foodgrain or not opening the shop regularly or on time.

57

Dhar Dindori Jhabua Khandwa Mandla Seoni Shivpuri

AAY BPL APL AAY BPL APL AAY BPL APL AAY BPL APL AAY BPL APL AAY BPL APL AAY BPL APL Total

Quality of Foodgrains is not good

1.25 1.9 0 6.06 12 2.4 1.25 7 0 1.27 7.9 7.1 2 1.2 0 2.56 2.5 5.1 65.6 32 27 9.674

Bad behaviour by the shop keeper

0 1.3 5 0 0 0 2.5 5.6 0 0 2.4 0 11 8.5 0 23.1 15 5.1 6.45 4.2 13 5.754

The ration shop is far away

5 6.3 5 16.7 1.2 2.4 1.25 4.7 0 3.8 2.4 21 76 68 63 21.8 22 26 15.1 31 24 19.4

The ration is not available in the shop

1.25 5 0 0 3.7 0 13.8 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.56 7.5 5.1 3.23 27 13 5.346

When there is need the shop is not open

11.3 15 0 12.1 12 26 1.25 4.7 0 2.53 1.8 2.4 3 4.9 0 17.9 6.2 5.1 8.6 4.2 10 7.485

Ration is not available in instalments

26.3 29 7.5 13.6 17 33 0 0.5 0 10.1 14 12 0 0 0 16.7 19 7.7 0 0 0 10.39

The ration is not available on credit

15 3.8 0 10.6 14 12 3.75 1.9 0 0 0 0 7.1 12 19 0 4.3 5.1 0 0 1.1 5.041

The food that we eat is not available in the shop

2.5 0 0 0 0.6 0 0 0 0 0 1.2 0 0 0.6 0 0 1.2 0 0 0 11 0.916

Sufficient own production

7.5 23 48 9.09 20 12 28.8 44 100 0 1.2 21 0 2.4 19 0 9.9 26 0 0 0 13.54

Other Reason

2.5 1.3 30 1.52 0 0 46.3 21 0 2.53 5.5 26 1 1.8 0 1.28 3.1 10 0 1 0 6.874

No Reason 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.25 0.9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.153

No response

27.5 14 5 30.3 18 12 0 0 0 79.7 64 9.5 0 0 0 14.1 9.9 5.1 1.08 0 0 15.38

100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

30

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53 percent respondents have reported the irregularities at FPS level. Around 25 percent of the total respondents have found that the ration allocated for the poor is sold in the open market. Around 7.11 percent respondents have reported that the shopkeepers try to give bad quality of ration to the AAY and BPL families and good quality is sold to open market. Around 8.33 percent cardholders have found that sometimes the shopkeepers refuses to provide foodgrains to them. Around 10 percent cardholders have reported number of other complaints. 46.75 percent cardholders refused to respond on the question and another 0.36 percent had not observed any irregularity at FPS.

The Ration is Sold To The Poor in The Open Market

Bad Quality Ration Is Sold and The Good One Is Stored

Some-times Give Some-times Not

Other None Can't say

No Response

Total

Dhar 12.92 4.29 31.52 0.98 14.29 9.52 16.40 14.21 Dindori 0.78 7.86 1.82 0.00 0.00 19.05 26.82 13.65 Jhabua 15.85 45.71 11.52 62.44 0.00 4.76 0.11 14.92 Khandwa 3.52 1.43 0.00 2.44 14.29 47.62 27.58 14.72 Mandla 0.00 0.00 1.21 24.39 14.29 9.52 24.32 14.16 Seoni 31.90 5.00 25.45 9.27 57.14 4.76 4.56 14.11 Shivpuri 35.03 35.71 28.48 0.49 0.00 4.76 0.22 14.21 Total 511

(25.94) 140 (7.11)

165 (8.33)

205 (10.41)

7 (0.36)

21 (1.1)

921 (46.75)

1970 (100)

Around 15.7 percent of the total respondents have reported more than one irregularity at FPS. Around 9.77 percent cardholders have found that the shopkeepers sell the good quality in open market and offers bad quality to the cardholders. Among them 80 percent of the respondents are from BPL category and 16.67 percent respondents are from AAY category.

Table 7.17 Reasons for low frequency of using Public Distribution System District Type of Irregularities at FPS

31

Around 28.1 percent, of the respondents reporting more than one complaint have

mentioned that shopkeeper sells the grains into the open market and does not provide foodgrains to the cardholder on a regular basis. From the data presented in the table it is clear that almost all the complaints have one common element that is the sale of foodgrain in the open market. The second most common complain is related with the supply of bad quality foodgrain to the people. The third common complain is that the shopkeeper behaves in a peculiar mood and sometimes gives ration to the people and sometimes refuses to give ration to them. This shows that whenever the shopkeepers get the buyer for the grains he refuses to provide grains to the cardholders. Among these cardholders around 62.87 percent belong to the BPL category and 30.94 percent belong to the AAY category. Among the BPL category around 57 percent cardholders have more than one complaint with FPS. Availability of food grains as per eligibility Most of the respondents have opined that the shopkeeper do not provide them food grains as per their edibility, the quantity is always less. Most of the respondents are from district Khandwa and Dhar. Out of total respondent’s 24.8percent respondents said that they get food grains as per their eligibility. Only in district Shivpuri most of the respondents have said that they get food grains as per the eligibility. About 10.6 percent respondents said they get food grains as per their eligibility sometimes and not always. Seoni districts shows maximum respondents who gets

Table 7.16 Types of irregularities in the opinion of cardholders Types of irregularity BPL AAY APL Total Percentage Bad quality of food grains are given to cardholders/Stock is sold in open market

80 16.67 3.33 30 9.77

Stock sold in open market /shopkeeper sometimes gives food grains some times do not give

51.16 37.21 11.63 86 28.01

Stock is sold in open market/others 65.00 32.50 2.50 40 13.03

Bad quality of food grains are given to cardholders/shopkeeper sometimes gives food grains some times do not give

52.63 42.11 5.26 19 6.19

Bad quality of food grains are given to cardholders/others 67.44 30.23 2.33 43 14.01

Sometimes give food grains and sometimes do not give/other 94.74 5.26 0.00 19 6.19

Sold in open market /Bad quality food grains are given /sometimes don’t give.

63.64 27.27 9.09 11 3.58

Sold in open market /Bad quality food grains are given /other 83.33 16.67 0.00 6 1.95

Sold in open market /sometimes don’t give/other. 55.56 36.11 8.33 36 11.73

Bad quality of food grains are given to cardholders/shopkeeper some times do not give/other

60.00 40.00 0.00 10 3.26

All of the above 57.14 28.57 14.29 7 2.28

Total 62.87 30.94 6.19 307 100.00

Table 7.19Shop keeper refuse to provide food grains as per eligibility District Yes No Some-times No

response Dhar 1.23 20.50 7.18 17.91

Dindori 11.25 17.26 1.44 4.48

Jhabua 23.11 11.37 18.18 8.96

Khandwa 1.02 19.59 7.18 50.75

Mandla 10.43 13.69 28.23 5.97

Seoni 13.91 10.87 33.97 11.94

Shivpuri 39.06 6.72 3.83 0.00

Total 24.82 61.17 10.61 3.40

32

foodgrains according to their eligibility sometimes If we look at different card category, the percentage of respondents in all three categories saying that they get food grains is 25 percent, 63 percent say they do not get require quantity, 11percent said that they some times get the required quantity. Commodities are sold at higher price at FPS

Majority of the respondents 66 percent in all the districts are of opinion that they do not get foodgrains at higher price or commodities are not sold at higher price. More than 25% respondents are of opinion that commodities FPS are sold at higher price and maximum numbers of respondents are from Shivpuri about 30 percent and Jhabua 25percent. As it also evident from the table related to rates of different commodities respondents have mentioned rates from Rs2to 9.It can be said that either the shopkeeper do not sell at higher price to every client.

At the time of demand and low stock the seller must be asking for raised price. In Dindori during discussion with the community the community members said that they get commodities at higher price but they have not mentioned in the survey as it can effect their relations with the shops and the shopkeeper can also face some problems. In Dhar also it was conveyed in very low voice that the APL category people take up the commodities at higher price which Antyodaya and BPL card holder cannot afford due to lack of cash. At the time urgency and some ceremony the higher prices are also paid because in any case the rates are lower than the open market. Availability of commodities on instalments

AS evident from the table most of the respondents said that they do not get the required quantity on instalments. In all 7 district most of the respondent are of the same opinion accept Mandla where the respondents have said that they get commodities m instalment. In Seoni some of the respondents said that they some times get commodities on instalment. During discussions it was observed

that they should get on instalments as often they do not have money to take the quota allotted to them as unit.

Table 7.20 selling of commodities at higher price

District Yes No Some-times

Can't say

Dhar 5.2 18.2 9.6 10.9

Dindori 10.4 15.2 1.9 16.3

Jhabua 25.6 10.5 34.6 6.5

Khandwa 3.9 16.3 26.9 46.7

Mandla 9.6 16.7 13.5 4.3

Seoni 14.6 13.9 13.5 14.1

Shivpuri 30.6 9.2 0.0 1.1

Total 26.3 66.3 2.6 4.7

Table 7.21 Commodities provided on instalment

Yes No Some-times

Don't Take

-1

Dhar 5 261 1 3 10 280 Dindori 0 259 0 1 9 269 Jhabua 39 235 13 1 6 294 Khandwa 47 142 15 54 32 290 Mandla 183 85 2 1 8 279 Seoni 16 210 29 1 22 278 Shivpuri 4 271 2 1 2 280 294 1463 62 62 89 1970

33

Duration of opening of FPS Most (34.9) of the respondents mentioned that the shop opens for 5to 10 days in a month. Most of the respondents are from district Shivpuri and Jhabua where shops are open for 5 to 10 days. The next majority (27) is of respondents who said that shops are open for 2 to 5 days in a month ,the maximum percentage of respondents come from district Seoni where shop open for limited duration . A very small percentage has mentioned that the shops are open for whole month. The majority of the respondents of this opinion are from Jhabua. If we analysed district wise, we can see distinct disparity as in district .If we analyse with in district the district where maximum respondents say that shops are open for 2to 5days are Mandla (50) and Seoni (72), where shops are open for 5to 10days are Dindori (40), Jhabua (56) and Shivpuri (57) where shop are open for 10-15 days is Dhar (63)) and more than 15 days is Khandwa (48). When we analysed the responses according to card category it was interesting to note that most of the BPL cardholders (33), AAY (36.6), APL (41.9) are of opinion that shops are open for 5 to 10 days. Timings Most of the respondents 66 percent are of opinion that the time of opening of the shop is afternoon and maximum respondents are from district Jahbua.17 percent respondents said that the shop open in morning and the district Dhar shows maximum number of respondents Only 3.2 percent are of opinion that there is no scheduled time for opening of shops the majority of respondents in this category are from Seoni. 9.7 percent respondents said that the time is on the wish of shopkeeper it can be for whole day on the market day or on the day of leave of particular village In the following villages Daulatpura, Kachrotiya, Kalighati, Bhamti, Dabdi, Garwada, Samli, Garwada, Samli the day is and time is fixed for opening of the shop. While in village Lalarundi of

Table 7.22 Number of days shops are open District 2 - 5

Days 5 - 10 Days

10 - 15 Days

15 - 20 Days

Whole Month

Don’t know

Dhar 17.1 1.6 43.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 Dindori 13.0 16.0 7.3 0.0 18.2 85.0 Jhabua 0.9 24.0 3.7 0.0 76.2 0.0 Khandwa 0.9 13.1 11.5 89.2 1.4 12.5 Mandla 26.6 10.9 15.1 0.0 0.0 2.5 Seoni 37.9 11.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Shivpuri 3.6 23.3 19.0 10.8 4.2 0.0 Total 27.0 34.9 20.8 8.0 7.3 2.0

Table 7.23 Time of opening of FPS

Dis

tric

ts

Mor

ning

Aft

er-n

oon

Eve

ning

Any

tim

e

Con

sens

us

Oth

er

NO

re

spon

se

Dhar 40.6 10.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 3.6 0.0 Dindori 0.0 19.9 0.0 7.9 25.0 0.0 14.3 Jhabua 5.4 20.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.2 0.0 Khandwa 47.1 5.9 5.3 1.6 50.0 19.3 85.7 Mandla 4.3 8.7 28.9 0.0 0.0 72.4 0.0 Seoni 0.3 17.7 0.0 68.3 25.0 0.0 0.0 Shivpuri 2.3 17.6 65.8 22.2 0.0 0.5 0.0 Total 17.8 66.8 1.9 3.2 0.2 9.7 0.4

34

district Jhabua the respondents said that the shop is open everyday from morning to evening. Corruption in FPS

Most of the respondents are of opinion that there is corruption in FPS as the stocks are sold in open market and the required quantity is not given to them. The information related to stock and price is not shared with them. On asking information the shopkeeper reacts negatively. Manipulations are done, some of the respondents were of opinion that the fresh and better quality stock is sold and the bad quality stuff is sold.

A separate question was asked to the respondents on the quantity of the food grains they get from the FPS and most of the respondents out of 1970 respondents, 1064 people opined that they get average quality food grain.

Table 7.27 Is there corruption in FPS

Yes No Cannot say

No information

Dhar 13.10 17.59 0.00 0.00 Dindori 1.95 26.77 36.00 0.00 Jhabua 22.51 9.40 0.00 0.85 Khandwa 2.49 15.15 56.00 99.15 Mandla 5.84 24.78 4.00 0.00 Seoni 24.46 5.64 4.00 0.00 Shivpuri 29.65 0.66 0.00 0.00 46.90 45.89 1.27 5.94

30

Chapter - 12 Experiences at Fair Price Shop People have faced bad behaviour, have been abused by the shopkeepers, have been charged high rates and have been given quantity less than their quota fixed by the government. All these experiences have emerged from the detailed case studies prepared on the functioning of PDS system. The actual experience of people, with PDS has been captures through their experiences either at FPS or with people responsible for managing the FPS. In order to understand the problems in details we prepared case studies. Total 20 case studies were prepared in 5 districts. Name of the district have been explained in the table CASST – 1. Cases explaining problems with FPS and PDS

Some specific complaints were like the Shop owner abuses tribal families and no ration to the cardholders on the rate prescribed for AAY have also been captured in these case studies. The analysis of case studies explains that majority of the cases report about getting quantity less than the norms fixed for the category of card holders. Cases of all the districts have reported following incidents:

1. Cases highlight that migrating families do not access the FPS during the period of migration but the shopkeeper enters the sale of ration of such periods. When migrating families come back and go to the shop then the shopkeeper makes entry for previous months. The illiteracy becomes a hurdle because the cardholder find themselves unable to read that what has been entered in the card.

2. People say that they do not get ration every month. The case of Gwari of Seoni district specifies this problem very clearly. Actually the ration of months, when families had migrated outside the village, is entered into the ration card when these families approach the shop for ration

3. The ration is sold to influential people on cheaper rate. Sold to open market also. Case of Babuka, Shivpuri and Dabari, Jhabua, specifically points out such incidents. From all the case studies it is clear that the ration is sold to people who are not eligible for cheap ration.

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31

4. Often the shopkeeper tells people that there is no stock hence he cannot distribute the ration to the poor families. Case of village Amadongari of Dindori district and case of Kajbi of Jhabua explain the problem.

5. Very –very interesting issue is raised by the cases. This is related to the waste of

time on ration shop. The cases from almost all the districts tell us that the poor cardholder queue-up for whole day to get the ration from the FPS. Sometimes they get it and some time they are informed that the stock has ended. In both the cases they loose the opportunity to do work and earn wage. People feel that the amount of loss of wages are almost equal to the subsidy received through PDS. This means that actually they do not get the subsidy. In many cases there is net loss for the card holders because they do not get ration in one visit. The problem is more acute in the case of village away from FPS because in such cases more than one family member is required to carry the ration home. The loss of time at PDS eats away the subsidy given by the government.

6. Case of Ambada, of Khandwa district tells the problem related with getting the

ration card. The family has received the card as BPL family but when they went to the FPS they were told that since the card is no duly signed and there is no stamp of competent authority they can not get the ration. When they insisted they were threatened about Police complain. Similarly the case of village Garwada of district Jhabua tells that the familiy is declared a BPL family and their name is alo in the list of BPL family, of the FPS but they have not been given card and they do not get subsidised ration.

7. Almost all the cases report that they do not get 35 kilogram of wheat and in many

cases do not get rice and even if they get rice the quantity is less. The cases of village Dabari of district Jhabua and of village Gwari of Seoni District explaine how the AAY cardholder do not get the full quantity of foodgrain instead they receive less quantity and if they demand more they are asked to pay the open market rates.

8. It was found in Shivpuri that the FPS shop owner sells the ration to open market.

Cases sharing inability of card holder The case studies have also highlighted many weaknesses of the cardholders that restrict them in either getting the ration or accessing the facilities made available through PDS.

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32

The cases have raised many reason related to the inability of card holders. These are explained below:

1. Majority of the card holders from BPL and AAY category are wage earners. The cardholders of poor category have to depend on collection of NTFP as well. The cardholders have experienced that when they go to the FPS it takes time and many a times they have to make more than one visit for getting their full quota of foodgrains. This means that they can not go to earn wages on the particular day, when they are visiting the FPS. Since they do not want to loose wages hence they have stopped going to the FPS regularly.

2. Case of village Singhrai of district Shivpuri explains that the card holder has no cash to purchase the foodgrain. The cardholder is old and depends on pension and wages for survival. The illness and irregularity in getting pension is responsible for this situation. Many other cases have indirectly show that they do not have sufficient cash to purchase the full quota alloyed for the family and hence they do not get their full quota of ration because the shopkeepers gives them the quantity demanded and enters the quantity, in to the ration card, due to the family.

3. The bamboo workers of Khandwa have raised the issue that their traditional work is not able to provide them the employment and livelihood for whole year. At the same time they cannot afford to go for wages to the places outside the village simply because the demand of the traditional product is very irregular. This has increased their vulnerability. These families have also shared the problem that the self-employment programmes have failed to help them in this situation.

4. Many cases have pointed out that their illiteracy increases the chances of exploitation. They do not know what has been entered in their card. In most of the cases the people were not aware about the norms. When asked about their awareness they initially said that they know about the norms but when specific questions were asked they were unable to give correct information.

5. The issue of long queue outside the shop and inability of ill and aged people to wait is one among the prominent reasons why they don’t go or do not get the ration from the FPS

30

Chapter – 13 Food and Fair Price Shop The FPS at Petlawad, district Jhabua, has essential commodities like Wheat, Sugar and Kerosene. Apart from these commodities the Shop also sells cloths, towels, soap and detergents, toothbrush and toothpaste and many other commodities. The shopkeeper informed us that the FPS offers these commodities on cheaper rates. Sale of these commodities help the shop in earning some profit that helps them in avoiding loss in managing the shop. This section looks in to the issue of allotment of foodgrains to the FPS for different categories of cardholder and lifting of allotted commodities by Fair Price Shop. Before getting in to the analysis of data it is necessary to mention that the study team was unable to get complete data from all the shops. The analysis, presented here, is based on the data which we have received form the field that was collected by seven partner organisations6. We have received data about allotment and lifting of wheat and rice. The data about Sugar and Kerosene were not available for all the shops and for all the category of cardholders. The data about cardholders of APL category was also not available at all the FPS. Some shop did not have any data with them and they said that they have submitted the data to their respective society. Allotment and Lifting by Shops

6 Data collection was done by five organizations and one independent consultant. The organizations were Sopan in district Seoni, Sampark in district Jhabua, Spandan in district Khandwa, VASPS in district Dhar, CID in district Shivpuri and Naresh Vishwas and his team members in Mandla and Dindori.

Details of allotment and Lifting of Essential Commodities by the FPS Wheat Rice Sugar Kerosene District Card

category Allotted Lifted Allotted Lifted Allotted Lifted Allotted Lifted Remarks BPL 331.65 331.65 574.98 574.98 30.1 30.1 443200 443200 AAY 422.16 422.16 684.85 684.85 0 0 0 0

Dindori

APL 9.03 9.03 20.55 20.55 0 0 0 0

Data from 4 shops

BPL 267.45 238.29 19884.5 85.16 98.3 33.45 16500 10600 AAY 222.49 203.9 154.04 135.04 0 0 0 0

Mandla

APL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Data from 4 shops. Data about wheat lifted is not available for FPS of Bichia.

BPL 119.5 41.05 70.2 13.52 47 0 8500 4100 AAY 61 33.4 29.2 27 42 0 8500 4100

Seoni

APL 0 0 0 0 37 0 8500 4100

Data from 4 FPS but information is incomplete.

BPL 70 50 25 10 15 10 2400 1000 AAY 15 15 2 2 15 10 2400 1000

Khandwa

APL DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA 2400 1000

Information of 1 FPS.

BPL DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA AAY DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA

Dhar

APL DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA DNA

Incomplete data for all 4 FPS.

BPL 165 173 20 25 10 5 3525 3240 AAY 36 11 4 15 10 0 2025 0

Jhabua

APL 0 0 25 0 0 0 0 0

No data for APL from all the Shops. Information from all 4 FPS. No data about Sugar.

BPL 172 172 11 11 0 0 19600 19600 AAY 426 430 31 31 0 0 19600 19600

Shivpuri

APL 0 0 0 0 0 0 19600 19600

No data for APL from all the Shops. Information from 2

31

23 shops from 7 districts provided data about allotment and lifting of 4 commodities namely wheat, rice, sugar and kerosene. The data informs about the status of allotment and lifting of commodities at FPS level. In many cases the data shows that there is gap between allotment to FPS and lifting by FPS. Shopkeepers do not take full responsibility of low level of lifting and link it with poor level of purchase by the cardholders. Data of allotment and lifting about FPS of district Dindori inform that there is no gap between allotment and lifting and shops lift 100 percent of the quota allotted to the shop. Data about allotment and lifting by FPS of Dindori presents a very good picture about lifting of commodities allotted to the shop. FP Shops of district Mandla are not lifting their full quota of commodities allotted to the shop. Data on lifting by FPS of Seoni also presents a very bleak picture where percentage of lifting is less than half of the allotment to the shop. Lifting is again better in Shivpuri. In Jhabua lifting for BPL is good but the data about lifting for Antyodaya is less than the allotment. There is no data from Dhar and data from Khandwa informs that FPS is not lifting the full quota allotted to the shop. One shop of Khandwa has informed that the allotment and lifting is based on the demand. Shop keepers informed study team that the change takes place on monthly or seasonal basis. The change occurs due to the good agricultural crop or outside migration of villagers. All 4 FPS of Dhar have provided the similar explanation about allotment and lifting. There is no gap in allotment and lifting of Kerosene in Dindori and Shivpuri but there is big gap in other five districts. No shop owner wishes to lit sugar because of the high price of sugar at FPS than the market price. Among the study districts only Dindori shops have lifted their full quota. Allotment, Lifting and Distribution at FPS level Allotment of foodgrains and other commodities to the Fair Price Shop is made on the basis of card holders in their area. The shop has two responsibilities which are lifting of commodities allotted to the shop and distributing them to the cardholders. In order to understand the management at Fair Price Shop level the study collected data on allotment, lifting and distribution of commodities by the shop. The team obtained data from shops of only three districts namely Seoni, Mandla and Dhar. Seoni

FPS only. Table: S – 1; Source: Data collected for PDS Study

Monthly Requirement, allotment and lifting of Commodities by FPS of Seoni Wheat Rice Kerosene Sugar Month

Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed April 03 107.25 93.4 58.65 82.76 61 46.32 7000 5550 5467 30 0 0 May 03 107.25 130 93.65 82.76 56 47.25 7000 4400 5900 45 15 8.1 June 03 107.25 81.8 86.1 82.76 46.4 48.05 7000 6735 6645 30 0 10.9 July 03 107.25 64.5 57.3 87.76 68.3 50.64 7000 4900 2664 30 0 0 August 03 57.25 0 0 37.76 0 0 4000 2000 0 15 0 0

September 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 October 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 November 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 December 03 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 January 04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 February 04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 March 04 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Table: S–2; Source: Data collected for PDS Study

32

All the 4 shops provided limited information for 5 months only. Details are presented in table S–2. The figures of allotment, lifting and distribution show that the shop had not lifted the total allotment of wheat, rice, kerosene and sugar. Mandla In district Mandla the teal was able to get data on allotment, lifting and distribution, by the FPS, for all the months of the financial year 2003-04. Data shows that there is gap in allotment of commodities to FPS and lifting and distribution of these commodities by the shop. The difference is more in the case of wheat, kerosene and sugar. The figures of distribution of rice show that there was heavy demand for rice from October 2003 to February 2004. Demand for wheat was more from December 03 to March 04. The distribution of kerosene shows irregular trend and distribution of sugar is very low.

Dhar Lifting of wheat is always less than allotment by FPS. Distribution figure give irregular picture and it is difficult top draw any trend from the data provided by FPS. Data on rice

shows that there is very little demand for rice and no demand for sugar.

Monthly Requirement, allotment and lifting of Commodities by FPS of Mandla Wheat Rice Kerosene Sugar Month

Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed April 03 84.3 68.8 61.65 175 174 103.6 11300 7300 4096 1034 20.5 107.9 May 03 120.33 97.4 75.76 158.1 138 141 1000 3000 3141 1016 4.9 8.23 June 03 108.72 101 73.21 169.7 168 101.5 4000 3000 4931 1016 5.03 8.59 July 03 91.65 100 92.85 180.8 166 157.6 10000 9000 4136 1016 5.72 9.98 August 03 71.33 50.3 71.59 196.8 30.3 114.3 4000 3000 5415 1036 20.05 7.01 September 03 146.24 121 56.16 79.32 42.8 71.93 4000 6000 5469 1027 80.53 12.24 October 03 62.53 11.5 46.85 188.5 157 191.8 7000 3005 3686 1038 1120 26.28 November 03 162.88 158 73.87 316.2 280 168.5 7000 9000 1644 1016 5303 4071 December 03 170.77 114 205.7 280.2 259 200.3 4000 3000 2407 1035 18.59 115.2 January 04 199.63 223 205.8 499.4 447 430.4 7000 3000 3519 1026 10.05 9.07 February 04 142.06 194 176.5 531.8 492 565.9 7000 9000 2338 1026 1015 24.63 March 04 138.87 74 179.5 226 214 177.5 4000 3000 5405 1037 20.6 5.76

Table: S – 3; Source: Data collected for PDS Study

Monthly Requirement, allotment and lifting of Commodities by FPS of Dhar Month Wheat Rice Kerosene Sugar Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed Allotted Lifted Distributed April 03 318 177 184.3 13 0.75 3.71 5800 5200 4320 51 0 0.641 May 03 318 200 178.8 13 2 2.319 5800 4595 5286 51 0 1.61 June 03 318 160 210.2 13 6.35 4.95 5800 4791 5169 51 0 3.65 July 03 318 240 236.4 13 7 8.25 5800 4793 4621 51 0 2.27 August 03 318 251 234.9 13 11 40.2 5900 4794 5058 51 0 1.19 September 03 318 295 230 13 4 1019 5800 4994 4783 51 0 0.95 October 03 318 270 271.4 13 0 7.38 5800 4795 4717 51 0 1.95 November 03 318 260 272.1 13 3 1.75 5800 4794 5242 51 0 0 December 03 318 270 254.6 13 0 3.47 5800 4794 4884 51 0 0 January 04 318 240 304.5 13 8 5.55 5800 4800 4102 51 0 0 February 04 318 315 266.4 13 0 3.2 5800 4795 4887 51 0 0 March 04 318 250 251.4 13 10 2.9 5800 5794 4937 51 0 0 Table: S – 4; Source: Data collected for PDS Study

33

The data presented above shows that:

− Records are not kept properly at Fair Price Shops, − Allotted quantity is always more than the quantity lifted and distributed − The quantity of commodities distributed show a general trend of demand at the

FPS level − There is no demand for sugar − Distribution of kerosene is less than quantity allotted and lifted by the FPS

30

Chapter – 15 Status and Role of Panchayats and Vigilance Committees Devolving power to the Panchayats and decision to constitute the Vigilance Committee at district and sub-district level have been two very important steps towards ensuring community participation and transparency in Targeted Public Distribution System. The study team collected data and information about the level of involvement of Panchayat, Gram Sabha and the Vigilance Committee at district and sub-district level. Ideally if vigilance committee is aware about its role and responsibilities and is active then many problems can be solved at local level itself. If Panchayats are actively involved then it can also resolve issues and tackle the complaints at local level. It is clear from the PDS Control Order 2001 that the meeting of the vigilance committee is part of the monitoring function of the State Government and thus the State Government is responsible for periodical meeting of the Vigilance Committee at each level. Government of Madhya Pradesh reconstituted the vigilance committees at Fair Price Shop level and the Janpad Panchayat level by inducting Sarpanch and the president of Janpad Panchayat as chairman of committees at subsequent levels. At FPS level Sarpanch of the village, where the shop is situated, heads the committee with one representative of the link society, three representatives of the beneficiaries (APL, BPL and Antyodaya), representatives of Nehru Yuva Kendra and Self Help Groups, senior teacher and Panchayat Secretary as member of the committee. The Block level committee is headed by President Janpad Panchayat of each block. Other members of the committee are Co-ordinator Nehru Yuva Kendra, Chief Municipal Officer, two representatives attached to the Consumer Protection, Assistant Supply Officer/Junior Supply Officer, Block Education Officer, representative of Lead Society, representative of Krishi Upaj Mandi and one representative of Self Help Group (By approval of the Collector) as member of the committee. The Sub-Divisional Officer (Revenue) will work as member secretary of the committee. The district level committee is headed by district collector and the State level committee is headed by the minister of the department. It is important to note that the We looked into the status of awareness about the roles and responsibilities of vigilance committees among the chairperson and members of the committee. The frequency of the meeting, agenda of previous meetings and the monitoring functions discharged by the committees at appropriate level have key areas of information collection and analyses. 1. Status of Vigilance Committees The vigilance committees at block and FPS level are close to the people and in case of any problem both the committees can easily be accessed by people through members of the committee. The information available regarding constituting the committee and regularity of meetings of vigilance committees provides very discouraging results. The committees are either not constituted or is not active at cutting edge levels. The table below summarizes the data pertaining to these aspects of vigilance committees.

31

1.1. Committee at FPS level It was difficult to find committee members at FPS level. In all 28 FPS we did not find the list containing the name of the members of the vigilance committee. One shop at Shivpuri and three shops at Khandwa accepted that there is a vigilance committee but the Shopkeepers and the Sarpanches were unable to provide the list of the members of vigilance committee. The Sarpanch of Gram Panchayats in Khandwa and the manager of lead society in Shivpuri told that committee is constitutes. The FPS shopkeepers and the Sarpanch of the concerned Gram Panchayats had very limited information about the role and the functioning of the committee. The routine reporting, about meeting of vigilance committee and routine checks by the committee members, is done by the employee of the lead society.

Status of Vigilance Committees Name of the District

District Level Committee Block Level Committee Fair Price Shop Level Committee

Mandla President of the Zila Panchayat is not aware about the status of the vigilance committee. Manager of the lead society accepts the existence of committee but does not know the names of the members of the committee.

The president of the Janpad Panchayat says that there is no committee. The cooperative society says that the committee has been constituted but not active.

Panchayat representatives, the Shopkeeper and others are not aware about vigilance committee.

Dindori Committee is constituted. The president of the Janpad Panchayat says that there is no committee. The cooperative society says that the committee has been constituted but not active.

No information received from the district.

Dhar Committee is constituted and the collector presides over the meetings of the committee

Committee is constituted but the members are not aware about role of the committee and meeting does not take place.

Vigilance Committee is not constituted.

Jhabua Zila Panchayat President informs that at present there is no committee and the deputy collector has very limited information.

President Janpad Panchayat says that the committee is constituted but the CEO of JP says that no such committee has been constituted.

According to the Sarpanches of the Gram Panchayats, of Study villages the committee is not constituted

Seoni Information not available. According to the CEO of JP the vigilance committee is constituted at the level of Fair Price Shop.

No information received from the district.

Shivpuri According to the District Food Officer the committee is constituted and is active.

The CEO and the President of JP, the vigilance committee is not constituted and they do not have information about such committee. The SDO (revenue) says that the committee is constituted.

The committee is not constituted at FPS level. The manger of lead society says that the committee is constituted. The manger has no information about the members of the committee.

Khandwa According to the District Food Officer the committee is constituted and is active.

Vigilance Committee is not constituted.

Vigilance committee is constituted and members of the committee check the stock and other details on weekly basis.

Table: VGC – 1 Source: Analysis of the individual interview, PDS study, 2004

32

In Khandwa the Sarpanch informed that they check the records of the FPS on the monthly basis. They said that if they receive complaints then they first discuss that with the shopkeeper and if the issue is not resolved at that level then they inform SDO revenue for necessary action. 1.2. Committee at Block Level Seven out of 8 Janpad Panchayat Presidents were not aware about the formation of any vigilance committee at block level. The President of the Petlawad Janpad of district Jhabua informed that the committee is constituted but he was unaware about the names of the members of the committee. The data shows clearly that the block level committees are either not constituted or the chairman of the committee is not aware about the constitution of the committee. Committees are not active in all the eight block. This finding itself shows the level of involvement of people in the system of TPDS and level of transparency in the system. 1.3. Committee at District Level Committee District level committees are constituted and the meeting is chaired by the collector of the concerned district. In majority of the cases the President of the Zila Panchayat was not aware either about the constitution of the committee and or about the frequency of the meetings of the committee. District food Officer and representatives of the lead society were aware about the constitution of the committee and the frequency of the meetings of the committee. 2. Panchayats and TPDS Since 1994, the Government of Madhya Pradesh has given the power of allotment of new shops to the Janpad Panchayats. The State has also assigned the power of suspension of allotment of FPS to the Janpad Panchayats. Panchayats at all level have been given the authority to check the stocks and registers of the FPS. Panchayats can also verify the quantity sold to the consumer and entry of this quantity in the ration card. The issue of distribution of Ration Card is assigned to the Gram Sabha7. 2.1. Awareness about Roles and responsibilities of PRIs The orders and rules related to TPDS, give power to the PRIs for better management of TPDS through involvement of local communities. Awareness among the Panchayat representatives about the role and responsibilities can enable Panchayats to take necessary steps for better management and redressal of grievances. The study collected information about awareness among representatives at each level in all the seven study districts. The findings are presented in table below.

7 For detail order see the chapter on System and Structure of TPDS

Awareness about Roles and responsibilities of Panchayats Name of the Zila Panchayat Janpad Panchayat Gram Panchayat

33

Panchayat members, at all level and in all the districts selected for the study, have both no awareness and information about the role of Panchayats in managing TPDS. The Panchayat representatives shared that they receive many complaints regarding FPS or TPDS but are unable to take any action. When their legal role, as described by the law, was shared with them they were completely surprised. This status also raises the question on the role played by training institutions and the curriculum of most of the training institutions. 2.2. Gram Sabha The Standing committee of the Gram Sabha is not active and the members of committees have no information about the role and responsibility of the committee. Complaints or the problems related to FPS are not raised in the Gram Sabha and even if it is raised Gram Sabha finds it difficult to take any action. People in villages said that Sarpanch and the Secretary are responsible for BPL and Antyodaya Card. The data suggests that Gram Sabha does not play any role and is unable to do so because their is no mechanism to establish an effective link or association between the Gram Sabha and officials of the department of Food. Almost all the people said that when we report issue in Gram Sabha

District Mandla President and Members are

not aware. Officials say that it is the function of food Department

President and members have very little awareness on this issue.

Sarpanches say that they have a role to monitor the functioning but they also add that they are not allowed. Panchayat members are completely unaware.

Dindori President and members are not aware about the role of ZP

Members and president have no idea about their role in TPDS.

Panchayat members are completely unaware.

Dhar Awareness level is very low among the members and the standing committee of ZP has almost no information.

Members are not aware and all the matters are dealt by officials.


Jhabua Zila Panchayat President said that ZP has important role but president and members were not aware about exact role. CEO monitors the functioning with the help of Food officer.

Janpad President has some idea but not clear about the details of the responsibilities of JP. Members are unaware.

Sarpanches have some idea but they are not very clear about their exact role. Panchayat members are completely unaware.

Seoni No information among members and president.

No information among members and president.

Sarpanches have some idea but have not done anything related to this. Panchayat members are completely unaware.

Shivpuri No information among members and president.


Sarpanch is not aware and Panchayat members are completely unaware.

Khandwa No information among members and president.



Table: VGC – 2 Source: Analysis of the individual interview, PDS study, 2004

34

we never receive any feedback. Sarpanch and secretary tell us that the complaints have been forwarded to the block. In no case Janpad Panchayat responded back to the Gram Sabha in any of the issues forwarded to Janpad Panchayat. 3. Conclusion There are rules and orders to involve people and institutions of local self governance in the management of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS). These are vigilance committee and power to Panchayats to monitor the functioning of FPS and TPDS. The data suggests that both the institutional set-up are not active due to the lack of awareness and poor coordination by the employees of the department concerned. The district level vigilance committee is active because collector heads the committee and officers are aware about the power and authority of district collector. Same cannot be said either about the vigilance committees or about the Panchayats. Study could not find any mechanism at district and sub-district level that ensures the employees of the department or the members of the cooperative societies to involve Panchayats or to prepare any plan with Panchayats for effective functioning of the system.

30

Chapter – 16 Major Findings and Suggestion Study highlights many issues relating to the macro management of TPDS at centre and State level to the issues pertaining to the distribution of foodgrains at Fair Price Shop. Public Distribution System Government of India initiated the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) in June 1997. The focus of new system is to provide subsidised foodgrains to the poor. The new system relies on State for formulation and implemention of a foolproof system of TPDS for the purpose of fulfilling two broad objectives. The first objective is related to identification of the poor for delivery of foodgrains and the second objective is related with distribution of foodgrains in a transparent and accountable manner at the FPS level. The new TPDS provides foodgrains to the States for three categories namely AAY, BPL and APL. Based on the survey results of NSSO the government of India decided to make arrangements to provide subsidised foodgrains to 5 percent people of the total population. This 5 percent has been identified as hungry, by NSSO survey, because the survey pointed that this section sleeps without two square meals a day. The scheme of providing subsidised foodgrains to hungry people is called Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY). Government of India considers this as a step in the direction of making the TPDS aim at reducing hunger among the poorest segments of population and to make PDS benefits more substantial in terms of both quantity and nutrition, for this section of the population. Information and Awareness According to the analysis of field data the situation about information and awareness, among the beneficiaries, is good in villages of study districts. More than 80 percent respondents say that they have information about PDS and FPS. However the observation of the study team suggest otherwise and the reason for positive response of the cardholders suggest that if people make complaint that ultimately results into the action against the FPS which finally results into the closure of FPS. The data on other questions like information about stock make it vary clear that people have very little information about FPS and PDS. This finding further clarifies that in absence of important information community cannot exercise any control over FPS and TPDS. The sources of information to the people are informal in nature. Panchayat, FPS and Panchayat secretaries are not the main source of information and they need to be streamlined so that people get regular information about quantity allotted to their FPS, stock of FPS and issue price of commodities. Suggestions

31

The cardholders have given 4-5 options for the improvement in the system of public distribution through FPS. � Improvement in quality of

Grain � Regular Opening of FPS � Increase in the number of

FPS � Reducing the price of food

grains � Effective mechanism for

handling complaints Majority of the cardholders (around 39.08 percent) feel that regular opening of FPS is important for its better functioning. 22 percent cardholders feel that the improvement in the quality of the foodgrain is necessary for the improvement in the services of PDS. From data it emerges that the grievance handling mechanism is not functioning properly and around 10 percent card holders feel that there is a need to improve the system that handles people’s complaints against the FPS a nd PDS. On the basis of the opinion given on various aspects it can be said that the respondents have problems with the Fair price shops .The problems are not voiced loudly as they are dependent on the FPS during the time of crisis as it is the only cheaper option which they can opt during difficult times.

Suggestions for Improvement in PDS system District

Impr

ovem

ent i

n qu

ality

of G

rain

Reg

ular

Ope

ning

of

FPS

Incr

ease

in th

e nu

mbe

r of

FPS

Red

ucin

g th

e pr

ice

of fo

od

grai

ns

Bett

er g

riev

ance

re

dres

sal

mec

hani

sm

Total

35 124 45 53 21 278 Dhar 12.59 44.60 16.19 19.06 7.55 100

131 105 28 1 0 265 Dindori 49.43 39.62 10.57 0.38 0 100

75 102 38 67 0 282 Jhabua 26.60 36.17 13.48 23.76 0 100

93 41 14 61 29 238 Khandwa 39.08 17.23 5.88 25.63 12.18 100

4 134 109 31 0 278 Mandla 1.44 48.20 39.21 11.15 0 100

29 140 20 34 23 246 Seoni 11.79 56.91 8.13 13.82 9.35 100

46 82 30 1 117 276 Shivpuri 16.67 29.71 10.87 0.36 42.39 100

413 728 284 248 190 1863 Total 22.17 39.08 15.24 13.31 10.20 100


32

Provisions under various laws related to PDS

FIR has to be registered for any offence

under Essential Commodities Act & who can file an FIR:

Section 10A of Essential Commodities Act reads as under: Section 10A. Offences to be cognizable and bailable.- Notwithstanding anything contained in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 every offence punishable under this Act shall be cognizable.

Section 154 of CrPC reads as under: 154. Information in cognizable cases: (1) Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer-in-charge of a police station, shall be reduced to writing by him or under his direction, and be read over to the informant; and every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf. (2) A copy of the information as recorded under sub-section (1) shall be given forthwith, free of cost, to the informant.

(3) Any person aggrieved by a refusal on the part of an officer in charge of a police station to record the information referred to in sub-section (1) may send the substance of such information, in writing and by post, to the Superintendent of Police concerned who, if satisfied that such information discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, shall either investigate the case himself or direct an investigation to be made by any police officer subordinate to him, in the manner provided by this Code, and such officer shall have all the powers of an officer in charge of the police station in relation to that offence.

Some important case laws: • The police is bound to register the information received of commission of cognizable

offence unless the information is vague, incomplete or does not disclose cognizable offence.-Kuldip Singh v. State 1994 Cr.LJ 1502, Rashtriya Mukthi Morcha v. Suraj Mandal 1996(38) DRJ 250 (DB)

Hence, an FIR has to be registered by the police for any offence committed under Essential Commodities Act. It is also clear that any person can approach police to file an FIR. In Delhi, police refuses to file an FIR on a complaint made by a member of the public. They say that they would file an FIR only on a complaint made to them by the Food Department. Such an act of Police is illegal. The police is statutorily required to file an FIR on a complaint made by any person. Who can approach a Court? Section 11 of the Essential Commodities Act reads as under:

33

Section 11. Cognizance of offences.- No Court shall take cognizance of any offence punishable under this Act except on a report in writing of the facts constituting such offence made by a person who is a public servant as defined in section 21 of the Indian Penal Code or any person aggrieved or any recognized consumer association, whether such person is a member of that association or not.

What are the penalties? Sec 7(1)(a) of Essential Commodities Act reads as under: Section 7. Penalties – (1) If any person contravenes any order made under Sec 3 – (a) he shall be punishable -

(i) in the case of an order made with reference to Clause (h) or Clause (i) of Sub-Sec (2) of that section, with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year and shall also be liable to fine, and

(ii) in the case of any other order, with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than three months but which may extend to seven years and shall also be liable to fine

Provided that the court may, for any adequate and special reasons to be mentioned in the judgement, impose a sentence of imprisonment for a term of less than three months.

What is the nature of offences? Section 3(1) of the Essential Commodities Act reads as under: Section 3. Power to control production, supply, distribution, etc., of essential commodities – (1) If the Central Government is of opinion that it is necessary or expedient so to do for maintaining or increasing supplies of any essential commodity or for securing their equitable distribution and availability at fair prices or for securing any essential commodity for the defence of India or the efficient conduct of military operations, it may by order, provide for regulating or prohibiting the production, supply and distribution thereof and trade and commerce therein.

In exercise of powers conferred by section 3 of Essential Commodities Act, the Central Government passed PDS Control Order 2001. Clause 9 of this Order reads as under: 9. Penalty. – If any person contravenes any provisions of this Order under Clauses 3, 4, 6 & 7, he shall be liable to punishment under section 7 of the Act.

Clause 7 of PDS Control Order reads as under: 7. Licensing:

(1) The procedure of issue of licenses or authorization to the fair price shows for the distribution of essential commodities under Public Distribution

34

System and duties and responsibilities of the fair price shop owners shall be as per paragraph 5 of the Annexe to this Order;

(2) The ration card holder shall not be denied the supply as per entitlement of the essential commodities, lying in stock, by the fair price show owner under the Public Distribution System;

(3) The fair price shop owner shall not retain ration cards after the supply of the essential commodities.

(4) A fair price shop owner shall provide the relevant extracts of the records maintained by him to the beneficiary on payment of the prescribed fee.

Para 5 of Annexe to PDS Control Order reads as under: 5. Licensing:

State Governments shall issue an order under Section 3 of the Act for regulating the sale and distribution of the essential commodities. The licenses to the fair price shop owner shall be issued under the said order and shall lay down the duties and responsibilities of the fair price show owner. The responsibilities and duties of fair price shop owners shall include, inter alia:

(i) sale of essential commodities as per the entitlement of ration card holders

at the retail issue prices fixed by the concerned State Government under the Public Distribution System;

(ii) display of information on a notice at a prominent place in the shop on

daily basis regarding (a) list of BPL and Antyodaya beneficiaries, (b) retail issue prices, (e) timings of opening and closing of the fair price shop, (f) stock of essential commodities received during the month, (g) opening and closing stock of essential commodities and (h) the authority for redressal of grievances/lodging complaints with respect to quality and quantity of essential commodities under the Public Distribution System;

(iii) maintenance of records of ration card holders (APL, BPL and Antyodaya),

stock register, issue or sale register;

(iv) furnishing of copies of specified documents, namely, ration card register, stock register, sale register to the office of the Gram Panchayat or Nagar Palika or Vigilance Committee or any other body authorized by State Governments for the purpose;

(v) display of samples of food grains being supplied through the fair price

shop;

(vi) production of books and records relating to the allotment and distribution of essential commodities to the inspecting agency and furnishing of such information as may be called for by the designated authority;

35

(vii) accountal of the actual distribution of essential commodities and the

balance stock at the end of the month to the designated authority of the concerned State Government with a copy to the Gram Panchayat;

(viii) opening and closing of the fair price shop as per the prescribed timings

displayed on the notice board. Hence, violation of any of the above provisions of Clause 7 or Para 5 is a cognizable offence and penalty under section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act would be attracted if a fair price shop owner violates any one of them. The Food Department is compulsorily required to either file an FIR or file a report before a Court. The police is statutorily required to file an FIR if any person makes a complaint of violation of any of the above provisions. Clause 6 of the PDS Control Order reads as under: 6. Distribution:

(1) The procedure for distribution of food grains by the Food Corporation of India to the State Governments or their nominated agencies, shall be per paragraph 4 of the Annexe to this Order.

(2) Fair Price shop owners shall take delivery of stocks from authorized nominees of the State Governments to ensure that essential commodities are available at the fair price shop within first week of the month for which the allotment is made.

(3) The district authority entrusted with the responsibility of implementing the Public Distribution System shall ensure that the stocks allocated to the fair price shows are physically delivered to them by the authorized nominee within the stipulated time.

(4) The authority or person, who is engaged in the distribution and handling of essential commodities under the Public Distribution System shall not will fully indulge in substitution or adulteration or diversion or theft of stocks from central godowns to fair price shop premises or at the premises of the fair price shop.

Paragraph 4 of the Annexe to PDS Control Order reads as under: 4. Distribution:

(i) The Food Corporation of India (FCI) or any other agency designated for the purpose by the Central Government shall ensure physical delivery of goodgrains of fair average quality to State Governments for distribution under the Public Distribution System, as per the allocations made by the Central Government, within two weeks of the receipt of payment from the State Governments and issue of release orders.

36

(ii) State Government shall, on getting allocation of foodgrains from the

Central Government, issue district-wise allocation orders authorizing their agencies or nominees to draw food grains from the FIO within ten days of the receipt of allocation orders made by the Government of India.

(iii) The designated authority of the State Governments shall ensure delivery of

one copy of allocation order made to their fair price shop simultaneously to Gram Panchayats or Nagar Palikas or Vigilance Committees or any other body nominated for monitoring the functioning of the fair price shops by the concerned State Government.

(iv) Gram Panchayats or Nagar Palikas or Vigilance Committees or any other

body nominated for monitoring the functioning of the fair price shop by State Governments shall display the stocks of essential commodities allotted during the month of the fair price shops on a notice board outside their office.

(v) While making monthly allocations to the fair price shops the designated

authority of State Governments shall take into account the balance stock, if any, lying un-distributed within the fair price shops owners for the subsequent allocations.

(vi) State Governments shall make arrangements for taking delivery of

essential commodities issued by the Central Government by their designated agencies or nominees from the FCI depots/ godowns and ensure further delivery to the fair price shop within the first week of the month for which allocation is made.

(vii) Before making the payment to the FCI the representatives of State

Governments or their nominees and the FCI shall conduct joint inspection of the stocks of food grains intended for issue to ensure that the stocks conform to the prescribed quality specifications.

(viii) The FCI shall issue to the State Government stack-wise sealed samples of

the stocks of food grains supplied to them for distribution under the Public Distribution System at the time of dispatch.

(ix) State Governments shall exercise necessary checks to ensure that full

quantity lifted by them reaches their godowns and in turn the fair price shops.

(x) State Governments shall ensure that stocks of essential commodities under

the Public Distribution System, as issued from the FCI godowns, are not replaced by stocks of inferior quality during storage, transit or any other stage till delivery to the ration card holder.

37

Hence, violation of any of the above the provisions of Clause 6 or Para 4 of Annexe to the PDS Control Order is a cognizable offence and penalty under section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act would be attracted if any person violates any one of them. The Food Department is compulsorily required to either file an FIR or file a report before a Court. The police is statutorily required to file an FIR if any person makes a complaint of violation of any of the above provisions. Clause 4 of the PDS Control Order reads as under: 4. Ration Cards: The State Government shall issue distinctive ration cards to Above

Poverty Line, Below Poverty Line and Antyodaya families and shall conduct periodical review and checking of the ration cards as per paragraph 2 of the Annexe to this Order.

Paragraph 2 of Annexe to PDS Control Order reads as under: 2. Ration Cards:

(i) State Governments shall ensure that no eligible applicant is denied a ration card under the Public Distribution System.

(ii) The ration card holder shall be entitled to draw essential commodities

from a fair price shop on weekly basis.

(iii) State Government shall issue distinctive ration cards to APL, BPL and Antyodaya families.

(iv) The designated authority shall issue a ration card within one month of the

date of receipt of the application after necessary checks and verification.

(v) State Governments shall specify a timeframe for making additions or alternations in the ration card. In case this time limit is not adhered to, the reasons therefore shall be intimated to the applicant in writing.

(vi) State Government shall conduct periodical checking of ration cards to

weed out ineligible and bogus ration cards and bogus units in ration cards.

(vii) A ration card shall be valid for a specified period. A ration card shall be

issued afresh or renewed after fresh verification of antecedents and such other checks as may be prescribed by the State Governments in this regard.

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(viii) Elimination of bogus ration cards as well as bogus units in the ration cards shall be a continuous exercise by the State Governments to check diversion of essential commodities.

(ix) Ration cards shall not be used as documents of identity.

Hence, violation of any of the above the provisions of Clause 4 or Para 2 of Annexe to the PDS Control Order is a cognizable offence and penalty under section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act would be attracted if any person violates any one of them. The Food Department is compulsorily required to either file an FIR or file a report before a Court. The police is statutorily required to file an FIR if any person makes a complaint of violation of any of the above provisions. Clause 3 of the PDS Control Order reads as under: 3. Identification of families living below the poverty line: The State Governments shall identify families living Below Poverty Line as

per paragraph 1 of the Annexe to this Order. Paragraph 1 of the Annexe to PDS Control Order reads as under: 1. Identification of families living below the poverty line:

(i) State Governments shall formulate suitable guidelines for the purpose of identification of families living Below the Poverty Line (BPL), including the Antyodaya families, as per the estimates adopted by the Central Government. Care will be taken to ensure that the families so identified are really the poorest. The exercise of identification of BPL and Antyodaya families, wherever it has not been done already, shall be completed within three months of the issue of this Order.

(ii) State Governments shall get the lists of BPL and Antyodaya families

reviewed every year for the purpose of deletion of ineligible families and inclusion of eligible families.

(iii) While undertaking the exercise of identification or review of BPL and

Antyodaya families, each State Government shall prescribe a suitable proforma to be filled up by or on behalf of the head of a family.

(iv) The data provided in the prescribed proforma shall be verified by the

authority designated by the State Government for the purpose. The said authority shall also certify the correctness of the information contained in the proforma.

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(v) Gram Sabhas shall finalize the list of beneficiaries belonging to BPL and Antyodaya categories drawn up by the designated authority in respect of the area under their respective jurisdiction.

(vi) Where there are no Gram Sabhas, the local representative bodies shall

finalize the list of beneficiaries belonging to BPL and Antyodaya categories within their respective jurisdiction.

(vii) The designated authority of the State Government or the local

representative bodies including Gram Sabhas and Gram Panchayats which have been entrusted with the task of identification of beneficiaries, shall verify and certify the information in the prescribed proforma for BPL and Antyodaya families.

Hence, violation of any of the above the provisions of Clause 3 or Para 1 of Annexe to the PDS Control Order is a cognizable offence and penalty under section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act would be attracted if any person violates any one of them. The Food Department is compulsorily required to either file an FIR or file a report before a Court. The police is statutorily required to file an FIR if any person makes a complaint of violation of any of the above provisions. Officials of State Government and FCI also liable for action under section 7 of Essential Commodities Act: If the State Government or FCI violates any of the above provisions or fails to carry out its responsibilities as provided in Clause 3 or Clause 4 or Clause 6 or Para 1 or Para 2 or Para 4 of the Annexe to the Order, the State Government or FCI, as the case may be, are statutorily required that responsibility is fixed within a definite time frame of the offence having been committed. The guilty officials should be held personally responsible and should be liable to penalty under section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act. Failure to carry out responsibilities as per these provisions or violation of any of these provisions by the State Government or FCI have to be treated as a cognizable offence committed by the guilty officials. An official guilty under IPC if he does not proceed against guilty officials and shopkeepers as per law: Sec 217 of Indian Penal Code reads as under: Public servant disobeying direction of law with intent to save person from punishment or property from forfeiture – Whoever, being a public servant, knowingly disobeys any direction of the law as to the way in which he is to conduct himself as such public servant, intending thereby to save, or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby save, any person from legal punishment, or subject him to a less punishment than that to which he is liable, or with intent to save, or knowing that he is likely thereby to save, any property from forfeiture or any charge to which it is liable by law, shall be punished with

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imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

Hence, if any official of the Food Department hesitates in taking action against the shopkeepers or guilty officials as per law or tries to save any shopkeeper or any guilty official from punishment, that official should be booked under sec 217 of the IPC.

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Note on relief to be sought from the Supreme Court on the Public Distribution System Consensus Position note after the March 9th , 2005 meeting organized by the RTF Campaign on

PDS Reforms8 Introduction: This note is a summation of the discussions within the Right to Food Campaign on the changes required in the Public Distribution system in India. This draws on the work of organisations working on the right to food in Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and other parts of the country. This note has emerged after the consensus generated at the meeting PDS reforms orgnaised by the RTF campaign on March 9th, 2005 where a draft version of this note was discussed and suggestions from representatives from various states incorporated. The Targeted Public Distribution System is by far the largest food entitlement programme in India. It is accessed by more than a third of the total population of India and families living below the poverty line remain the single most important constituency that the PDS serves. It also a critical part of the procurement chain of the government - both Central and State - which provides a minimum support price to farmers for their produce and helps check prices of agricultural commodities. Despite its political significance, the PDS remains mired in systemic problems that are very deep-rooted. It is mired in corruption, inefficiencies, lack of transparency and, has over time, become dysfunctional in many parts of the country. The Supreme Court in its interim orders in the Right to Food Case (Writ 196/ 2001 .PUCL Vs. UoI and others) has delivered a number of landmark decisions on PDS reform. These have provided a window of opportunity for activists, policy makers, commissioners to the Supreme Court and their advisers and in some cases even bureaucrats to intervene in many states to attempt a rejuvenation of the system. These efforts include the passing of the landmark PDS Control Order in Chhattisgarh; extension of the PDS to urban destitute in Maharashtra led by the Ration Kriti Samiti; greater accountability in the PDS in Delhi that has been enforced by Parivaratan; the expansion of beneficiaries in Madhya Pradesh through the efforts of civil society and many other such efforts across the country. A summary of the interim orders of the Supreme Court is given in the table below9:

Box-1 Public Distribution System and Supreme Court ordersi Supreme Court order, Dated 21st May 2001

¾ It is the case of the Union of India that there has been full compliance with regard to the allotment of food grain in relation to the TPDS. However, if any of

8 This note has emerged out of the deliberations at the March 9th meeting of the RTF Campaign on the Public Distribution System.

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the States gives a specific instance of non-compliance, the Union of India will do the needful within the framework of the Scheme.

Supreme Court order, Dated 8th May 2002 ¾ The Gram Sabhas are entitled to conduct a social audit into all

Food/Employment schemes and to report all instances to misuse of funds to the respective implementing authorities, who shall on receipt of such complaints, investigate and taken appropriate action in accordance with law.

¾ The respondents shall ensure that the ration shops remain open throughout the month, during fixed hours, the details of which will be displayed on the notice board.

Supreme Court order, Dated 2nd May 2003 It is necessary to issue immediate directions to evolve a system whereby eligible BPL families, which may not be on BPL list, are so included as also regarding the ration shops and other outlets remaining open and giving deliveries of food-grains to those, who are on the list and hold the requisite cards. For the present, we are not going into the question whether only 41% of the poorest households are on BPL list. We may note that in May last year an order was passed that the respondents shall ensure that the ration shops remain open throughout the month during fixed hours and the details of which shall be displayed in the notice board. To facilitate the supply of the grain, we issue the following directions :- (1) Licensees, who

(a) do not keep their shops open throughout the month during the stipulated period, (b) fail to provide grain to BPL families strictly at BPL rates and no higher, (c) keep the cards of BPL households with them, (d) make false entries in the BPL cards, (e) engage in black-marketing or siphoning away of grains to the open market and hand over such ration shops to such other person/organizations,

Shall make themselves liable for cancellation of their licenses. The concerned authorities/functionaries would not show any laxity on the subject. (2) Permit the BPL household to buy the ration in installments. (3) Wide publicity shall be given so as to make BPL families aware of their entitlement of food-grains. What was observed in the order dated 23rd July, 2001 in regard to the making available of food to aged, infirm, disabled etc. has already been noticed hereinabove. According to the figures supplied by the petitioner, approximately

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1.5 crore persons are eligible to get Antyodaya Anna Yozana (AAY) Card. We direct the Government of India to place on AAY category the following groups of persons :- (1) Aged, infirm, disabled, destitute men and women, pregnant and locating women, destitute women ; (2) widows and other single women with no regular support; (3) old persons (aged 60 or above) with no regular support and no assured means of subsistence; (4) households with a disabled adult and assured means of subsistence; (5) households where due to old age, lack of physical or mental fitness, social customs, need to care for a disabled, or other reasons, no adult member is available to engage in gainful employment outside the house; (6) primitive tribes. What we have stated above in regard to BPL Cardholders for effective supply of grains to them, would equally apply for those, who are on AAY list. Supreme Court order, Dated 20th April 2004

In regard to this scheme (Antyodaya Ann Yojana), the following directions are issued:

1. The Government of India shall issue, within two months, guidelines so that the existing condition of possession of a BPL card for inclusion in AAY category is dispensed with.

2. The State Governments should be directed by the Central Government to accelerate the issue of Antyodaya cards especially to primitive tribes. The guidelines issued to State Governments shall be implemented in letter and spirit. Despite this, the situation on the ground continues to remain grim which the Fifth Report of the Commissioners of the Supreme Court notes with concern. For instance the table etaken from the Commissioners Fifth report reflects on the abysmal coverage in many of the EAG states:

State wise Coverage of Fair Price Shops under the PDS

State No. of Fair Price Shops

No. of Cards Per

FPS

No of Villages (census 01)

% villages covered

Andhra Pradesh 40688 391 28124 145

Arunachal Pradesh 1284 283 4066 32

Assam 33229 161 26248 127

Bihar 41818 296 45099 93

Chhatisgarh 7869 573 20309 39

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Goa 529 622 360 147

Gujarat 14284 768 18545 77

Haryana 7210 622 6956 104

Himachal Pradesh 4043 332 20119 20

Jammu & Kashmir 3927 466 6653 59

Jharkhand 14395 202 32616 44

Karnataka 20675 532 29484 70

Kerala 14140 449 1365 1036

Madhya Pradesh 18688 719 55393 34

Maharashtra 49638 442 43723 114

Manipur 2551 124 2392 107

Meghalaya 4297 67 6024 71

Mizoram 1011 227 818 124

Nagaland 290 686 1318 22

Orissa 23579 335 51350 46

Punjab 13874 394 12730 109

Rajasthan 20272 599 41354 49

Sikkim 1071 118 453 236

Tamil Nadu 27995 601 16318 172

Tripura 1432 500 871 164

Uttar Pradesh 74788 509 107441 70

Uttaranchal 7332 300 16806 44

West Bengal 20441 783 40780 50

India 475634 459 638667 74

Source: N.C Saxena, Fifth Report of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court Similarly the off-take figures of the worst performing states is reflected in the table below:

Allocation and Offtake under BPL for the year 2003-2004

State Allotment

('000 tonnes) Offtake

('000 tonnes) % Offtake

(03-04) % Offtake

(02-03) Offtake (Kg per month)

Bihar 2219 627 28 20 10 Goa 13 7 54 50 29 Gujarat 754 474 63 52 14 Jharkhand 839 297 35 28 15 Maharashtra 2293 1580 69 60 25 Orissa 1484 633 43 24 15 Punjab 166 120 72 53 19 Uttar Pradesh 3654 1845 50 64 20 Uttaranchal 177 89 50 59 21 West Bengal 1703 1039 61 44 25

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Total (India average) 22549 14751 65 59 18 Note: * Computed using the prevalent number of BPL ration cards existent in the states, **The figure for offtake per BPL household should be interpreted with caution for these states. This is because the number of BPL cards distributed, far exceed the official number given by the Centre and on which allotments are made.

Source: N.C. Saxena, Fifth Report of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court

Summary of Reliefs to be sought from the Supreme Court: This note tries to summarise some of the best practices and also make recommendations based on the existing laws, policies and programmes to make the PDS more effective, transparent, pro-poor and accountable to those whom it seeks to serve. Initially these are being recommended only for the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states (former BIMAROU states plus the three new states) viz. Bihar, MP, UP, Rajasthan, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal and Jharkhand. This is primarily because the performance of these states in the delivery of the PDS has been much worse as compared to the other states. However the enabling provisions in these may also serve as recommendations for other non-EAG states. This is a summary of the reliefs that are proposed to be sought from the Supreme Court and are meant to initiate discussions within the RTF Campaign. It is by no means a comprehensive note but essentially draws on the praxis of those who have tried to attempt PDS reforms. 1) In order to secure greater accountability of PDS, as a vital public service for the

poor, the responsibilty for running the PDS should be handed over to the respective elected local bodies, the Gram Panchayats and Urban Municipal bodies (UMBs) , as the case may be. All private persons running the PDS outlets or Fair Price Shops (FPS) should be terminated, and entirely proibited in the future. The.

2) The Gram Panchayats, in consulatation with and with the concurrence of the

Gram Sabha, and the UMB, in consultation with the local mohalla committee, if constituted, will either run the shop themselves or entrust the responsibility to any of the following public bodies for running the PDS shop:

(a) Women's Self Help Groups (b) LAMPS (c) Primary Credit Co-operative Societies

3) In case the Panchayats and UMBs, after the prescribed democratic processes of

consultation and concurrence elaborated in paragragh 2, hand over the operation of the shops to a public body, this must be permissible on an annually renewable basis. The renewal should be done only after the performance of the shop owner is found to be satisfactory by a committee appointed by the BPL and Antodaya cardholders of the area which the shop serves. It should further be mandatory that

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each renewal will require a prior social audit by the Gram Sabha or Mohalla Samiti (if constituted), and the lease will be renewed only after the Gram Sabha or Mohalla Samiti (if constituted), has approved it.

4) The Women’s self help groups should have a bank account which is atleast three

years old from the date of the issuing of the order by the State Government allowing SHGs to run Fair Price Shops. Wherever possible, preference must be given to SHGs of dalit and tribal women and SHGs exclusively of women from BPL families.

5) All salespersons in ITDP blocks should be appointed exclusively from local tribal

communities. Fifty percent of all salespersons should be women in both ITDP and non-ITDP areas. In non-tribal areas, 33 per cent reservation should be given to dalits and 10 % reservations for persons with disabilities. Preference should also be given to war widows, ex-servicemen and other disadvantaged sections of society. For all these categories, wherever possible, preference should be given to individuals from families living below the poverty line.

6) All salespersons of PDS shops must be paid not less than statutory minimum

wages. 7) State Governments should ensure that there should be a fair price shop such that

no consumer has to travel to more than 3 kms to access it. 8) FPS shops should be located wherever possible at a central location within a

settlement so that it can be easily accessible. They should not be located in buildings which also function as residences, and wherever possible they must be located in government buildings.

9) Margins must be suitably revised by the Government to ensure that the shops are

not only viable but also turn over a reasonable amount of profit. Each State Government should submit the basis of their calculations to the Supreme Court Commissioners, to convince them that the margins are realistic to ensure a reasonable profit to the panchayat, UMB or other public body, and ensure that it is a viable and sustainable economic activity.

10) Separate budgetary provisions should be made by Central government to meet the

working capital requirements of the shops that are being transferred from the private sector to Women’s SHGs and Panchayats/ ULBs. Under no circumstance should the panchayat/ urban local bodies be asked to used the “mulbhoot” funds at their disposal for this purpose.

11) Godowns for stocking foodgrains and kerosene depots must be constructed at

every block and district headquarters, in a phased manner. Priority for construction of godowns must be given to drought prone districts.

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12) Ration cards are a means of ensuring food security and are often used as proxy

identity cards. Whereas ration cards should continue to have evidentiary value to prove identity and residence, ration cards should not be denied to people of contested legal title of residence like forest dwellers.

13) People living in unauthorized or illegal dwellings and homeless people are not

issued cards in a number of urban settlements. These people should also be issued cards. All families living in authorized or un-authorised slum settlements should be eligible for a BPL ration card. All homeless persons should be automatically eligible for Antyodaya cards.

14) Issue of ration cards to BPL and Antyodaya families should not be a one time

affair. It should be a continuous activity going on throughout the year. Whenever any person applies for a BPL or an Antyodaya card, the Department should carry out necessary verifications and issue her / him an appropriate card within one month.

15) Ration cards should be redesigned appropriately so that it becomes easier to

record lifting of foodgrains by card-holders in more than one instalment every month.

16) All ration cards should have rates and quantities under the category in which the

card is issued, printed on it. Relevant information on where card holders can file complaints in case there are irregularities should also be printed on the ration card.

17) The Government must draft an appropriate scheme for making foodgrains and

kerosene available to people who migrate out for work since the most vulnerable section of the population migrates for work. In the initial phase this could be done for persons migrating within the state. Central Government should also explore the feasibility of expanding this within a given timeframe to include inter-state migrant labour.

18) All states should ensure that at least 35 kgs of subsidized food grains are given to

each family per month at the prescribed BPL or Antodaya rates. The rates may be further lowered by the State Governments by providing additional subsidies but under no circumstance should the Central subsidy be lowered by the State Government either for expansion of the number of beneficiaries or for any other reason.

19) All ration cards should be issued jointly in the name of both the husband and wife

or the elder-most male and female person in the household and it should be recorded as such under the head “head of the household” in the ration card. In case a woman is deserted, separated, widowed or is heading a household, she should be eligible automatically for atleast the same category of card that she was

48

originally a part of. Taking into account the added vulnerabilities, an assessment will have to be made by the issuing authority whether Antodaya status needs to be given to her irrespective of the category under which she held a card previously and an Antodaya card should be issued accordingly.

20) The FPS level vigilance committee must have, in addition to the Sarpanch and the

Secretary of the Panchayat or urban local body representatives, as the case may be, a team of 5 people from among and chosen directly in a special meeting of the BPL and Antodaya card holders.

21) Antyodaya ration allocations should be doubled in the lean months from the

perspective of food availability in these communities (usually summer months and the early period of the monsoon, from April to September) for all Antodaya card holders. This will be done to ensure food security in the lean months.

22) All districts in India should put up off-take figures on their websites right down to

the FPS level. Metropolitan cities - Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Chennai should operationalise this within three months, and other districts within one year of the order.In order to enable all citizens to exercise their right to information to control corruption, shopkeepers must use carbon sheeted copies for maintaining the daily issue register and stock registers. The original records should be deposited with the food department and copies retained at the FPS.

23) A State level vigilance committee will be formed by the State Government in

consultation with the Commissioners to the Supreme Court (Civil Writ 196/ 2001, PUCL vs. UoI and others).

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Note to be circulated by the Commissioners on accountability issues to State and Central Governments

1. Law prescribes that ration card would be issued within a month of application. Section 7 prescribes penalty for non-compliance. If a ration card is not issued within a month or if the requested alterations are not carried out within the specified time, it should make the concerned authority in-charge of that district should be liable for a criminal action under sec 7 as prescribed under the Act.

(i) On a complaint presented to the police from any quarters, the police shall lodge a case against him/ her.

(ii) On a complaint made to his supervisory authorities, the supervisory authority shall be duty bound to not only lodge a case with the police but also to ensure that the requested work is done in the next one month.

2. It is coming to notice in a number of areas that cards have been issued to bogus

entities, which do not exist at all. Also, more than one card has been seen to be issued to the same person. All these cases indicate direct malafide on the part Food Department officials. If any such complaint is made, responsibilities should be fixed within a week of receiving such a complaint. This should be treated as an offence fit for major penalty. Major penalty should be imposed in all such cases within a month of receipt of such cases. This is also a criminal offence. FIR should be lodged by the Department within a month of receipt of such a compliant against such an official. The police should also be directed to register FIR if they receive any complaint from any member of the public.

3. The PDS Control Order requires that every shopkeeper would submit his records

including daily sales register, cards register, stock register etc to the prescribed authority. However, the intervals at which these records would be submitted and the authority with whom these records would be submitted have not been prescribed yet. The Governments should be directed to issue orders prescribing the authority with whom ration shopkeepers should submit their records every month. The people should be able to access records from these authorities on payment of photocopying charges of Rs 0.50 per page. Inspection of records should be allowed on an application free of cost. The said authority should allow inspection or provide copies within 5 days of receiving such application. Non-compliance with this procedure should be punishable with imposition of penalty on the concerned official. Independent appeal should also be provided. Stock position on arrival of material and date of arrival should be displayed prominently at the notice board of every circle for each shop in that area every month, as soon as material arrives in any shop.

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4. Although the law, especially the Essential Commodities Act, provides for stringent punishments for various offences, rarely are FIRs even registered, and at best far weaker departmental proceedings are resorted to. This is very regrettable because crimes related to food distribution are assaults on the right to life itself of impoverished people. Police should be directed to lodge FIR on receipt of any like black marketeering and diversion of foodgrains after complaints from any quarter. The state government should take effective steps and inform the Court, to ensure the following:

i. Ensure that the grievances and complaints of the public are duly

registered when they approach the Government. If someone is illiterate and cannot make a complaint in writing, an official should be designated to transform the oral complaint to writing. In addition, awareness should be created amongst public about how to register complaints.

ii. There should be clearly laid out office procedures on how to resolve each type of complaint. Presently such procedures are not prescribed and often the lower officials are at a loss on how to deal with various types of complaints. This also gives them a scope for corruption. The procedures should also include the following:

iii. For each step of investigation, there should be a prescribed time

limit. iv. Penalties for different types of offences should also be so clearly

prescribed that it leaves little scope for discretion. v. It should be prescribed on what action would be taken against an

official who does not follow the time limits and procedures laid down.

vi. For certain types of grievances, action taken against the officials, if they did not follow the prescribed time limits, should include deduction of their salaries at certain rate as a penal measure.

vii. Responsibility should be cast upon the head of a district to inspect the complaint register and how the complaints have been resolved. If the procedures or time limits have not been followed, it should be the duty of the district head to impose penalties against the guilty officials as laid down above after giving them an opportunity of being heard.

5. However, time limits should be prescribed for imposition of these penalties. 6. The ultimate objective of PDS is to ensure that the people receive correct

quantities of rations timely at prescribed rates and of edible quality. If any cardholder makes any complaint to any authority in the Food Department, who has jurisdiction over his area, that he has been denied ration by the FPS owner or if he complains that the shop is closed after the first week of the month (by when it is expected that the shopkeeper would have received the supplies for that

51

month), it shall be the duty of that authority to ensure that the cardholder receives his due ration within next 24 hours. If that authority fails to be able to do so, his salary should be deducted at the rate of Rs 50 per day of default per such complaint.

7. Theft can be two types:

i) Direct removal of goods – In such cases, the police

should lodge an FIR on a complaint from any quarters. ii) On production of any evidence, which indicates theft –

In all such cases, police refuse to file an FIR. They should be directed to lodge an FIR on a complaint from public also. The Department does not have a fixed time limit for investigation and taking action. Normally, it is not very difficult or time consuming to investigate such complaints. Delay in investigations gives time to the guilty shopkeeper to influence complainant. On any such complaint, the department should be required to complete its enquiries within a week. The guilty shopkeeper should be given another weeks time to present his explanation. Final order should be passed by the concerned authority within three weeks of receiving any complaint of theft or diversion. Food Department should be directed to lodge an FIR within a month of receipt of any such complaint.

8. The district authorities should be directed to ensure that supplies reach FPS shops

in their areas latest by the end of first week of the month. On a complaint, it should be treated as dereliction of duty on the part of head of district.

9. The shopkeepers should be required to fill prescribed information in the ration

cards viz date and quantity of sale. It should be the duty of the inspectors to regularly verify entries on the cards. Responsibility for non-compliance would lie on the inspector. Any discrepancy, whenever found would be treated as dereliction of duty on the part of the inspector.

10. If a social audit in any area reveals diversion or theft of more than 10%, the police

should be directed to compulsorily register a case of criminal dereliction of duty against the area FSO and AC and should carry out necessary investigations.

11. The provisions of Essential Commodities Act, PDS Control Order and orders of

the Supreme Court should be strictly enforced. Directions should be issued to all Assistant Commissioners of Food Department to lodge FIR with the police within 7 days of receipt of any complaint, which deals with any of the violations mentioned in the PDS Control Order. The FIR should be lodged independent of and in addition to the departmental enquiries.

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12. An independent body in every state should be designated as an appellate body for

the purpose of hearing appeals, if the people do not get satisfactory response to their grievances or complaints. This body should be headed by a retired judge of High Court. The body would have the following functions and powers:

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Targeted Public Distribution System - Right to Food Campaign

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